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Clownado (2019)
Clownado (2019)
2019 | Comedy, Horror
Thoughts on Clownado

Characters – Big Ronnie is the abusive husband and circus performer that killed Savanna’s lover and forced her into an embarrassing and humiliating performance for his show. After he becomes cursed, along with his fellow performers, he gets caught in the position of being able to transport through tornadoes, where they look to kill anyone and everyone. Savanna is the wife of Big Ronnie, she is trying to leave him, only to find her plan shattered and herself forced into performing in his circus, she puts the curse on them with a friend before going on the run, only for the circus performers not to leave her alone. Hunter is a trucker who picks us Dion, he knows the town well and is willing to do a good deed to help a stranger or a friend. Dion is the black Elvis impersonator who gets questioned about his look by everyone he meets, he helps along the way in the battle against the killer clowns.

Performances – The performances in this film are wildly over the top, which only helps with the tone of the film, John O’Hare as the leader of the clowns goes full evil in his performance, while Rachel Lagen shows just how much of a victim she is. When it comes to the rest of the cast, everybody knows who they are playing through this film.

Story – The story here follows a vengeful clown and his circus performers that use tornadoes to transport around the world in search for the woman that put the curse on them, as they look to pile up the body count, while everybody else is looking for a way to stop their evil once and for all. First thing is first, if you liked Sharknado, you will understand how to watch a film with this tone, you can’t take anything you see in this story seriously, but you aren’t meant to, we get a gimmick storyline, which does everything it needs to, to make you laugh at certain moments that are bonkers, that is designed to embrace this. We do get the idea of strangers working together, with a full range of colourful characters, as well as having plenty of bloodshed along the way, giving this story a fun grindhouse feel at times too.

Comedy/Horror – The comedy in this film comes from the over the top style of the kills and Big Ronnie’s actions, the horror comes from the bloodshed, with the clowns being over powered and will to kill with any means.

Settings – The film is set in a small town, which usually sees people pass through it, most characters know each other or have dealt with people behaving the same way, which shows us just how they will come together to look to survive the clownado.

Special Effects – The effects in the film are blood splatter heavy, they do tend to be extremely close up on the wounds which does add to the effects of shock value of the damage caused by the clowns.


Scene of the Movie – The first clownado.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – While filled with blood, the close ups of the body damage, sometimes, hide away from the reaction on the victims face.

Final Thoughts – This is a truly over the top idea, that like Sharknado works to bring one of the most popular horror figures, clowns to a new way to haunt people.

Overall: Purely Fun Horror Comedy.
  
Dog Soldiers (2002)
Dog Soldiers (2002)
2002 | Action, Horror
8
8.2 (26 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Great British cast (3 more)
Black/dark humour throughout
Great one liners
One of the last films I remember to use makeup, costumes, and what looks like actual sausages for special effects and gore.
There is no Spoon
Contains spoilers, click to show
This is just one of those films from my youth that will never look back on with anything but pure joy.

The plot has already been laid out here, the reasons to watch this movie aren't really based around storyline. It's more that a group of "everyman" type British soldiers are thrust into a bat sh*t crazy situation, fighting off seven foot werewolves inside an abandoned farmhouse in the Scottish highlands. Comedy is of course going to come with that.

If the premise doesn't grab you, come for Liam Cunningham (AKA Ser Davos Seaworth) playing a bad guy, it's such a brilliant thing to see his range. If that doesn't do it, come to hear Sean Pertwee say "We are now up against live, hostile targets. So, if Little Red Riding Hood should show up with a bazooka and a bad attitude, I expect you to chin the bitch."

The jokes and quotables are thick and fast, the makeup and costumes of the werewolves is still analogue, and the work put into them must have been immense. They are genuinely menacing, and it's nice to remind yourself that not everything needs to be computer generated to have impact.

As a last point, Id like to point out that besides the great cast, the comedy, and the quotes, this isn't really jump scare, or torture p*rn, it's just an old fashioned run and gun, action comedy horror. It also ends in a way I just haven't seen before, with the use of photographs in a particular "action shot" kind of way, set up during the movie. Excellent.

- Rob
  
Drag Me to Hell (2009)
Drag Me to Hell (2009)
2009 | Comedy, Horror
Christine Brown seems to have everything going well for her at this point in her life. She has a boyfriend who cares about her and loves her unconditionally, a great job at the bank as a loan officer with more than enough room for advancement in the company, and speaking of, it's between her and one other employee for the vacant assistant manager position. One day though, a strange looking gypsy shows up at Christine's bank asking for another extension before they foreclose on her home. After talking it over with her boss, it's up to Christine to decide on approving the loan and she comes to the conclusion of denying it. Mrs. Ganush begs and pleads with Christine, but Christine won't budge on her decision. After feeling like Christine wronged her by denying her pleas, Mrs. Ganush puts a curse on her and unless Christine can find some sort of loophole, she'll be going to hell in three days.

This is Sam Raimi's return to the horror genre, in case you hadn't heard that in the trailer or anything else promoting the film. Drag Me To Hell has already had such an overwhelmingly positive response when it comes to feedback and the truth of the matter is that the film is genuinely that entertaining. Not only did Sam Raimi return to the horror genre, but he did it so flawlessly and without missing a beat. He's on top of his game and, dare I say, the best he's ever been. The film only seemed to get better as it progressed. It's somehow capable of combining comedy, suspense, romance, and horror all into one amazing final product. A film that can do something like make you laugh out loud one minute, scare you the next, gross you out after that, and tear at your heartstrings is something special. And it's not like the film does that one time and calls it quits. It goes through that cycle (laugh, scare, gross, heartwarming) over and over again throughout the film. Sam Raimi has struck cinematic gold.

Drag Me To Hell is a hell of a lot of fun. It truly has something to offer anyone looking for a good time at the movies. Not only is the film based on an original story, but it's an original story that is worth being told, worth listening to, and incredibly entertaining. Originality seems to be extinct when it comes to horror these days. It's just so refreshing to see a film that not only isn't a remake, but drenches itself in the fact that it offers something new. Sam Raimi has delivered a cinematic feature that has rejuvenated what we once referred to as "the horror film." Let's hope that other filmmakers can tread the same path that he has paved the way with.
  
Leprechaun Returns (2019)
Leprechaun Returns (2019)
2019 | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
Characters – Lila is the daughter or Tory (from the original) she is moving back to the same house in the vents of the original to be part of a college sorority, she is clearly the outsider of the group desperate to make new friends after a lifetime of looking after her mother. She learns to start believing what her mother did and proves to be resourceful throughout the film. Katie is the slutty of the friends, Rose is the one trying to make a change and Meredith is the drunk one, while they are meant to be portrayed as smart, they are painfully generic and dumb throughout. The Leprechaun has returned looking for his gold and this time he isn’t going to be a friendly, trying to get his power back. He uses rhymes to try and scare the characters and new powers to make object move to kill.

Performances – Taylor Spreitler does every she can in the leading role, trying to step into the shoes of Jennifer Aniston isn’t going to be easy for anyone, Pepi Sonuga, Sai Bennett and Emily Reid are the basic supporting performances, playing confusing characters. Linden Porco does well as the leprechaun being evil enough.

Story – The story picks up 25 years after the original film where we follow a new group of students that head to the house from the original only to find themselves being haunted by the leprechaun who just wants his gold back. The idea that we are taught to forget any of the sequels is a good thing and arguable the only good thing about the story, the rest just makes the characters seem confusing, with the story wanting to say these girls are smart with what they are doing, but as soon as the horror starts they just become screaming messes. It does keep the tone of a slasher story though it just never captures the tone of the first film enough.

Comedy/Horror – The comedy comes from the painfully rhymes that the leprechaun gives, they are very pun heavy which will often make your eyes roll. The horror does come from the kills which are bloody and one is in fact an original one too.

Settings – The film is set in the same house as the original film, it needs to be rebuilt so people could live there, it shows the evil hasn’t left this place after 25-years.

Special Effects – The effects in the film are easily one of the better parts because we get the unique looking kills that don’t shy away from the camera.


Scene of the Movie – Solar panel

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The characters being confusing.

Final Thoughts – This is a disappoint horror sequel reboot, it is filled with too many puns and tries to be self-aware of everything going on.

Overall: Leprechaun is better off dead.
  
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Michael Packner (32 KP) rated Halloween (2018) in Movies

Jun 15, 2019 (Updated Jun 15, 2019)  
Halloween (2018)
Halloween (2018)
2018 | Horror
The film starts off really good. The first half of the film is definitely quality. (1 more)
The strongest point of the film is an absolutely beautiful and brutal tracking shot that lasts about two minutes. Really epic stuff.
The second half of the film. At about halfway the film hits a wall and freefalls from there. (3 more)
Vicki's death scene is played for cheap laughs when the scene should've been dead serious. This is the start of the freefall.
The twist with the "New Loomis" is BRUTALLY awful.
The "epic" final act and long awaited showdown between Laurie and Michael is epically meh.
Before I start I want to qualify this by saying other than the first two films which are classics, I really do not like this series. It's overrated and boring and truthfully everything past part 2 is mediocre to crap, so I went into this honestly expecting to hate it and watched it more for my wife than myself. That being said, the first half hour I felt like I was right, but then it did get better. This was a better sequel than the previous ones. Michael is evil again and he is BRUTAL. The use of comedy in this film was overdone to a huge fault, especially one kill scene where they used comedy to absolutely kill the tension and the scene came off absolutely disrespectful and just mean spirited in a bad way. The new Loomis subplot was awful. Why? Just why? A father with his son makes the dumbest decision ever in a horror movie and that's ok, but people forgive it because it's this franchise. I did enjoy the final showdown between Michael and Laurie though so that's a positive. I rank the film as at least 3 or 4 in the franchise so there's that. At least I had fun and enjoyed it for the most part. Never let a comedian write a horror movie ever again.
  
The Final Girls (2015)
The Final Girls (2015)
2015 | Comedy, Horror
7
6.9 (14 Ratings)
Movie Rating
There are several reasons why The Final Girls is a goddam delight.
For a start, it's an unabashed love letter to the Friday the 13th series, both playing tribute, and poking fun at its tropes. If you're a fan of summer camp slashers, then you'll find a lot to love. The comedy on display is decent and never feels too try hard, and even manages to lightly berate the horror fan community whilst managing to remain endearing.
Amongst all the silliness however, lurks a touching and often sad story about loss and coming to terms with grief. Fantastic performances from Taissa Farmiga and Malin Akerman compliment these moments, and they land pretty well. The characters are solidly balanced, and result in a movie that knows when to be funny, and when to be serious.

The Final Girls has quickly become a bit of a cult favourite since it's release in 2015, and it's easy to see why. Good stuff!
  
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
1950 | Classics, Drama

"Sunset Boulevard is the ultimate film noir for me. It has this incredibly unpleasant main character, who is played with a lot of charm by William Holden, and he thinks he’s really smart, and it turns out that he’s kind of in over his head. I love the environment. I love the way the story is told in flashbacks. I love the sense of Los Angeles. I love the humor in it — it’s a really funny movie — and it’s just one of those iconic things that, if you know the movie, you run into it once a month in some way, especially living in L.A. It’s got great lines in it. There’s incredible dialogue, incredible visual moments. Surprises. It’s a horror movie and a comedy at the same time; it’s all over the place in terms of genre. When I first saw it, I just couldn’t believe that it was a big Hollywood movie made by a studio because it’s so peculiar."

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