Jesters_folly

The Fool who sees all

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Rugby, United Kingdom

11. June

Joined: Jul 4, 2019

I love movies , games and books.

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Earned at Sep 15, 2020, 11:52:24 AM
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Earned at Sep 1, 2020, 6:47:20 PM

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Earned at Oct 9, 2019, 10:26:09 PM

Items Added (19)

Mr Harrigan's Phone (2022)

6.5 (2 Ratings) Rate It

Movie

Added: Oct 10, 2022, 8:52:57 PM

We're all going to the world's fair (2021)

10.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Movie

Added: Oct 8, 2022, 8:23:52 PM

The Funhouse

Dean Koontz

7.2 (6 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Once there was a girl who ran away and joined a traveling carnival. She married a man she grew to...

Added: Nov 11, 2020, 11:14:07 AM

Super Sales on Super Heros

William D Arand

10.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Added: Sep 12, 2020, 6:59:13 PM

Super Hero Harem LitRpg

House Beneath the Bridge

Iain Rob Wright

7.7 (3 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Added: Sep 3, 2020, 3:26:15 PM

Witch monk car crash afterlife

Guardians (2017)

6.8 (5 Ratings) Rate It

Movie

During the Cold War, an organisation called "Patriot" created a super-hero squad, which includes...

Added: Aug 31, 2020, 8:17:59 PM

100% Wolf (2020)

7.5 (2 Ratings) Rate It

Movie

100% Wolf centers on Freddy Lupin, heir to a proud family line of werewolves. Positive he'll become...

Added: Aug 21, 2020, 4:48:20 PM

Werewolves Talking Dogs

Spree (2020)

6.1 (10 Ratings) Rate It

Movie

Added: Aug 16, 2020, 10:10:23 AM

social media uber Spree killing

Robo Vampire (1988)

6.5 (2 Ratings) Rate It

Movie

Narcotics agent Tom Wilde is resurrected as a cyborg after being killed in the line of duty and sent...

Added: Aug 11, 2020, 8:11:58 PM

Hopping vampires vampire cyborg

Dead Island: The Book

Mark Morris

8.0 (2 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Welcome to the Royal Palms Resort on the island of Banoi which offers guests from around the world...

Added: Jul 21, 2020, 7:46:40 PM

Dead Island Zombies Sam B Banoi Logan Purna

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Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated Mr Harrigan's Phone (2022) in Movies

Oct 10, 2022

Contains spoilers, click to show

Mr Harringan's phone is a film based on a short story by Stephen King. Like a lot of Kings work the film is a slow burn but one without much of a pay off.
Mr Harringan's phone follows Craig, a young boy who is hired by the reclusive Mr Harringan. After working for him for a few years Mr Harringan dies. During his period of grief Craig phones Mr Harringan's old phone and tells him about the problems he is having with a bully, the bully dies soon after and Craig is sure the dead Mr Harringan has something to do with it.
Mr Harringan's phone has the potential to be a great ghost film but it doesn't manage to pull it off. The first 40 to 50 minutes of the film builds up the relationship between Craig and Mr Harringan leaving around an hour for the spooky stuff. However there is little actual horror, there are only 2 deaths due to the ghost and you don't see either of them. The film give what could be natural reasons for the deaths and tries to focuse on the effect they have on Craig as he thinks that he caused them but even this seems lacking.
The film feels like it's trying to be a 'classic' set in the modern day, like a Charles Dickens novel set in the naughties and it does pull this off but still seems to be lacking something.
If you are looking for something like the ring then this probably isn't for you but if you want a slow burn in the gothic/Dickens vain then it may be worth a watch.

Kudos

Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated We're all going to the world's fair (2021) in Movies

Oct 8, 2022

Contains spoilers, click to show

We're all going to the world's fair is an interesting film. The story focuses on Cassey, a girl who decides to take the 'World fair' change, an online/live action horror game. Before taking the challenge the player is warned that game will change them. The player then says "I want to go to the world fair" 3 times, pricks their finger to draw blood then watch a short video. They then film how they are changed.
'World's fair' is mostly shot as YouTube videos and Snapchats, most of which are from Cassey's perspective, other 'World's fair' players or the other main character, JBL.
With only two major characters the film is a slow burn, following the effect the game has on Cassey and the help that JBL tries to give her.
The film ends in a certain ambiguity, both with just how serious Cassey is taking the game and with what JBL's intentions really are and I do think that the film may have been better without the final scene as (I feel) it takes away a bit of the final mystery.
'We're all going to the world's fair' is more creepy than scary and doesn't really have any gore or jump scares relying on a more creeping, psychological form of horror as we watch Cassey's deterioration.
'We're all going to the world's fair' is an interesting film that plays on the the phenomenon of creepy pasta and role-play but doesn't offer anything for gore, slasher, body horror fans.

Kudos

Jesters_folly (230 KP) created a post

Oct 8, 2022

I've been away for a while, mostly due to covid and family stuff. I'm trying the '31 nights of screams' challenge, that's 1 horror movie a night for all of October, and I've come across a couple of interesting films so I thought I'd try to get back to reviewing.

Kudos (1) Comment

Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated Cooties (2015) in Movies

Aug 14, 2021

Cooties (2015)

2015 | Comedy, Horror

6.0

(8 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Contains spoilers, click to show

First off a warning, Cooties is a Zombie film where the zombies are children so, if you don't like violence against children than this really isn't the film for you.

Clint (Elijah Wood) moves back to his home town to work on his book and takes a job as a substitute teacher at his old school. On his first day a virus breaks out that turns all the children into zombies. Clint and the other teachers fight to escaper the school and find out what is happening.

Cooties is quite a self aware film, in one of the first scenes Clint askes his mother what she thought of his book and she tells him that the the characters are unlikable, the plot makes no sense and it's boring, the first one of those is true, most of the characters are unlikable, at least at the start of the film. The pre-zombie children are brats and the teachers range from meek to bullies. Making the children unlikable is necessary because of what happens later.
Some of the teachers do undergo character growth, as I said they start off unlikable but a few of them become more likeable as we find out what made them become teachers and how they react to the situation.
Saying that though, Cooties is not an overly cleaver film, it's a zombie film that uses horror tropes; people are trapped in small rooms, there are air vents, people get eaten and, despite how it starts there is no big message to the film. I say despite how it starts because I did think that it was going to be a big 'Anti Meat' film but any sigh of that is forgotten very soon and, apart from a slight pro-teacher message the film soon becomes another zombie flick, it doesn't even have the usual political undertones like the night of the living dead film.

Over all Cooties is generally a good zombie film but I think it will lose a big chunk of it's audience because it becomes quite violent as the teaches have to fight the children to get out.
Don't expect anything great, Cooties is just another zombie film with a gimmick that some will find distasteful but, if you like your zombie films with a bit of humour and mindless action and you can look past the fact the zombies are children then give Cooties a go.

One last thing, I did find myself asking, if the air vent is big enough to fit to small adults side by side then it must have been big enough for a large man so any one could have gone on the mission.

Kudos

Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated The Suicide Squad (2021) in Movies

Aug 4, 2021

The Suicide Squad (2021)

2021 | Action, Comedy, Crime

7.9

(28 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

The Suicide Squad is a (possible) reboot that may or may not follow on from Suicide Squad and (or only) Birds of Prey. Honestly I'm not sure that even DC knows what's going on with their movie time line. Anyway, Margot Robbie and Joel Kinnamen return as Harley Quinn and Rick Flagg to lead another team of criminal misfits on an impossible mission (or, if it's a reboot like James Gunn says then it's the first time they are together and we ignore that Flagg askes Harley why she's back in prison or that Waller's team are checking who has worked with who). This time task force X are sent to the island of Corto Maltese to find and destroy 'Project Starfish'.

Ok so 'The Suicide Squad' is a good film, it looks like it has learned form the problems of the first film and incorporated the humour from 'Birds of Prey'. Firstly It's not as formulaic as the first film, a problem that is caused by the premise of 'Task Force X', if each member of the task force is chosen because they have a skill that is useful for the mission then you would expect that skill to be used and the first film took this too literally, each member had a scene where they did their thing then they just faded into the background and 'The Suicide Squad' avoids this by focusing on the characters was, well characters and not powers.
The film is very action driven and very violent but, unlike some of the other recent DC films it's not dark, it has more of a 'Grindhouse' feel than the dark, brooding style of the Batman/Superman/Justice league films (I liked those but they were a bit heavy in parts). The Suicide Squad has humour in it, some of which is quite immature but it fits the tone of the film. The violence and humour is some what balanced out by the comic book feel the film has, King shark, Weasel and Staro are both some what cartoony in appearance and some of the costumes are straight out of the comic books and I think that this is what managed to keep it at a (UK) rating of 15 because (and I know I've said this) it's violent, it's bloody, people get ripped apart and there is torture and lots of talk about killing children.
Somehow 'The Suicide Squad' is a fun watchable film and defiantly one of the better DC films, don't be put of by the original Suicide Squad (no 'The).
Oh and also there's a, after credit scene that set's up for a film that's been announced so stick around until the credits finish.

Kudos

Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated Deep Red (Profondo rosso) (1975) in Movies

Jul 19, 2021

Deep Red (Profondo rosso) (1975)

1975 | International, Horror, Mystery

7.7

(7 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Contains spoilers, click to show

Deep Red (aka Profondo rosso) is a thriller/slasher from Italian writer/director Dario Argento.
When Marcus Daly (David Hemmings) witnesses the murder of the women living in the flat below him he finds himself in a race to find the murderer before he becomes their next victim. The films killer follows a lot of what would become familiar tropes in slasher films, the killer is rarely seen and when they are seen they are covered u, they use a number of different ways to kill their victims and they have a habit of sneaking around. There isn't necessarily a a lot of blood from the kills, that is to say blood is sprayed around but when there is blood it is filmed in such a way that you can't miss it, in fact they eye is drawn to it.
Speaking of eyes there are a lot of them, Dario Argento has his own style of filming, he uses filters and strange camera angles and, in Deep Red a lot of closeups on eyes, sometimes just for scene transitions.
As well as being a Slasher, Deep Red is a mystery, as the film progresses Marcus the protagonist find clues as to the identity of the killer giving the viewer the chance to work out who it is as well. But there are red herrings and a lot of things that don't necessarily make sense. There is a clockwork boy, used only one by the killer, there is a creepy girl with a possibly mad farther, two facts that really don't affect the story.
As I said, Deep Red contains a lot of the Slasher tropes but it predates most of them, even beating Halloween by three years and so you can see that it has a big influence on the modern (well 80's so not so modern now) slashers.
The down side is that Deep Red is slow, there is a lot of talking, although contained in this are some clues as to the killers identity and the level of violence isn't quite as much as some of the more modern films, it does however beat some of it's slasher predecessors such as Psycho.
Over all Deep Red is a good film, slightly more mystery than slasher but with enough kills to keep a slasher fan happy. The story does plod along at is own pace but over all an enjoyable film.

Kudos (1)

Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated Black Widow (2021) in Movies

Jul 16, 2021

Contains spoilers, click to show

Black widow is part Russian spy movie, part 'Fast and Furious' with a bit of marvel thrown in.
The Russian spy movie part is obvious, Black widow is a Russian spy, she doesn't even have any powers. After finding out that the man who ran the spy program was not dead (that's what happened in Budapest) and had improved on the training Natasha joins forces with her old 'Family' to try and bring him down.
We have car chases, bike chases, flying fortresses, planes, helicopters and family. No one goes to space but I'm sure that, if they had spoken about Family for even a few seconds more then 'Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel)' would have crossed franchises to give them a thumbs up and maybe even lend them a car or two.

(Most) of the film takes place between Captain America: Civil war and Avengers: Infinity war whilst the Avengers are still separated and (almost) no other characters from the franchise appear in the film, the avengers are mentioned (one appears in a photo) and there are nods to things that have happened (what happened in Budapest plays a part in the film) but it is mostly original (to the Disney MCU) characters.

One major difference to the comics and the one thing that has ruffled some fans feathers is the character of Task Master, but the character works for the film so I didn't have a problem with it.

Over all a good addition to the marvel franchise and a glimpse of how they are going to link the films and the new series' together.

Kudos

Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated The Purge: Anarchy (2014) in Movies

Jul 14, 2021

Contains spoilers, click to show

The Purge Anarchy is the second film in the Purge franchise and shows more of the effect the purge is having on the general populous.
The film follows three groups who are all out during the annual purge for different reasons but who are forced to come together to help each other.
Some of the questions raised in the first film are expanded on, is the Purge really a way to help stop normal crime or is there a more sinister reason. It also raises the question, Is there any good reason to purge? We see it used as a way to make money, an excuse to behave in 'base' ways and a way to get revenge.

Purge Anarchy follows the main protagonists as they make their way to safety and has some of the sense of suspense the first movie has but also has a lot more violence, a lot of which is in the background as the group try to avoid it.

'Class' is also brought up with an anti-purge group producing media saying that the true purpose of the purge is really just a way of getting rid of the lower class and the poor, with more evidence of this as the film progresses.

Over all the Purge Anarchy is a good movie, it looses some of the tension of the first film by widening the area the film is set but, if they had just done another home invasion film it would have been 'more of the same' and taking it out into the streets enables the franchises law to grow. There are a few questions left at least partly unanswered but there are (at time of writing) three more films and a series so hopefully these are answered later.