Creep 2 Review

Creep 2 (2017) Poster 

You didn’t think I’d leave you all hanging through the New Year without first posting a new review, did you? Well, is there anyone still reading this blog? This thing has been alive and well for many years, and I’m still chasing the wind, so to speak. This time around, there are 3 actors that put on a show in this movie. However, Karan Soni isn’t in the movie for very long. The movie moves alongside Mark Duplass and Desiree Akhavan. The same premise that you got before is now here, only things aren’t going to smoothly for our main character, Josef. This time around, he is calling himself Aaron, and he invites a woman named Sara to his house to help do some videography. “Creep 2” pushes the boundaries of how comfortable you are going to be with someone, and really scares through a tension point that is absolutely stellar at times.

The plot of the movie is very much the same as you would expect from the previous release. This time around the villain admits he’s a serial killer, and is interviewed by the woman. However, things start to get weird as she turns to the camera and confesses that things are getting odd, and that Aaron is starting to become weirder and asking for odd things. The same progression happens that the other movie goes through, only this time, Sara isn’t afraid, doesn’t jump, and goes head first into the psychosis that Aaron presents, even turning the tables around and causing him to run for his life at times.

“Creep 2” slowly builds, and continues to build through 78 minutes of two characters trying to get the one up on each other. The movie is scary, but in a very familiar way, causing you to second guess what you’re watching. There’s several scenes that are bloody, or cause panic, and are quite alarming for this type of found footage movie. As the movie progresses, however, you get a serious twist, and some stellar framework, and nice push forward to breaking through what you expect from the film. It’s not what you think, until the very end, and right before it, actually. I would love to ruin it for you, but it’s a movie that requires patience, because it slowly burns down, and eventually breaks into sheer terror in the closing minutes.

With only 3 actors, and 2 of them carrying the film, you would think that you’d get bored. However, it carries well, and it builds on the first movie, without breaking down into a schlock fest, which is appreciated. Overall, this is one killer movie, and it’s different, yet feels similar too. It’s a good way to end the year if you haven’t seen a lot of horror movies, or you want something different.

I would suggest picking up “Creep 2” on DVD and seeing what the hype is about. It’s one of the better pieces of horror and suspense in the found footage genre. It works on so many levels.

The Lords of Salem Review

Rob Zombie burst onto the movie scene with his “House of 1,000 Corpses” and levied that into a career as a director. While some people hated his work on “Halloween”, others thought that the visionary director had something to offer the community as a whole. With the release of “The Lords of Salem” the hype surrounding his directorial work was definitely at an all-time high. Then the movie came out and a lot of people threw in the towel, their hands up in the air and claimed that he had lost it. Even though there are a lot of people that hate this movie, I think that it comes across 100 million times better than “Drag Me To Hell”, which I thought was garbage and terribly made by a veteran director. This movie was not rated Pg-13, it was rated R for a reason, it’s a HORROR MOVIE!

Visually, Zombie found a way to create a compelling, lavish art house film. There is a very beautiful array that comes through every frame of this movie, and it’s atmospheric from the first moments on the screen to the finish line. There’s attention to the colors, the set pieces, and everything works together in a very Kubrick like manner. You are going to swear that you’re watching something older than the past few years because this type of cinematography doesn’t usually hit the screen very often. The rich reds, greens, blacks, reds, and golden rod all hit the screen hard, and I was definitely impressed with the change from the dark and gloomy elements that he worked with in other movies, to this jump into what the foreign horror movies of the 1970s and 1980s were bringing.

Lords of Salem's Striking Use of Color

The movie revolves around a coven that has picked a vessel in modern times to bring forth a reckoning. A child is birthed, although the story is somewhat convoluted, through the sequences of a radio DJ playing a record that has been delivered to her. The movie then progresses and we get a writer trying to figure out a melody that is droning on and on and familiar in a way. The writer recognizes it as a melody for an old coven, and he quickly tries to figure out why it is being played on the radio. Through the narrative we get a slow burn that leaves us with no answers, except for a news reel that plays at the end.

Overall, “The Lords of Salem” is a visual masterpiece. Rob Zombie went for broke on this one, and truly delivers a “unique” vision. It may not make a lot of sense at times, but there’s enough visual direction and art to make this one of the most unique horror movies to come out in a long time. I cannot think of another movie that has the same kind of compelling visualization, and I’ve written this blog for a long time. I’ve read the complaints on this movie and you know what? If you didn’t like this at all, you’re an idiot and perhaps you shouldn’t watch horror movies any longer. This isn’t particularly scary, it’s just visually compelling in a way that few horror movies in the modern scope are.

Visual Design Is The Strong Suit of Zombie's Lords of Salem

Then again, there’s a very distinct disconnect when you see the latex baby…I’ll leave it at that. “Lords of Salem” is best enjoyed on blu ray like I did, and definitely an underrated piece of horror from recent releases. I have seen a lot of recent movies, and most don't have the same kind of visual collateral. Sure, Zombie's storytelling leaves something to be desired, but as far as a movie that isn't a rehash, or a reboot. It's an original picture that deserves far more credit than it gets. Sheri Moon Zombie does well here, and so do the other actors. I liked it.

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Halloween Costumes You Should Buy

With the month of October settling in, it’s important to look into the wide world of Halloween costumes. You will find that the stores are starting to stock all sorts of things and they are starting to sell through them at a record pace. I for one visited a Spirit Store recently and was impressed with just how much stuff they have. However, they are not always up to snuff with my favorites, and that’s why I wanted to talk about a few favorite iconic ideas that you may want to look into when it comes to dressing up this October 31.

Freddy or Jason

If you are a lazy person, and I know you are out there, try one of these two iconic horror maestros. Last year I was Freddy, and I threw a party in which no one came at all. I invited all my friends, family and my girlfriend invited a lot of people too, and guess what? I was there getting drunk with only myself, my cats and at least a couple. I just remember that Wonder Woman’s boobs were hanging out and I wanted to see them, my girlfriend said I could, but she wasn’t having it. They just seemed to good…and…well I’m a perv. Jason works well too, easy to get a hockey mask and fake machete, right? Notice I am on the left here smiling. That was before I drank myself silly and asked for a woman to show me her boobs. I had way too much to drink and way too much food, all because no one bothered to show up, well except for two people, I don't remember much.

Halloween Costumes

Michael Meyers may be one of the scariest things on film, especially when put into the hands of a seasoned horror rocker like Rob Zombie, but dressing up like him doesn’t necessarily have to be daunting. In fact, it’s as easy as getting a latex mask and a dickies jumpsuit. Then put on some boots and walk slowly. It’s that easy to dress up like one of the iconic killers from yesterday and today.

John Wayne Gacy

If you want to stun everyone, why not dress up like Pogo the Clown himself. You’ll have to put on a little chubby suit, and then waltz around scaring the living daylights out of people, but when they ask you what you are, make sure that you say Gacy. They will either run for cover, laugh, or just look at you like an idiot. I for one would love it, but I’m too brown to pull off this one.

Drake

You want a cool costume idea? Dress up like the rapper Drake. No, don’t dress up like him right now, put on a black polo shirt, wear some dickies and some regular sneakers, and get into a wheelchair. That’s right, that idiot was in a wheelchair during Degrassi, and that’s what you should dress up as. Why not? People would laugh and you could even rap like him, I mean it doesn’t take much to win a Grammy anymore, does it? What he hasn’t won? Who cares.

Ok so my attempt at writing a new post ended up in a rant or diatribe, but hey, that’s me in a nutshell these days. If you’re going to shop online for Halloween costumes, click here and save a bundle, otherwise don’t, I don’t care. This will be a post that will have to hold you over until I start exploding with reviews that you may or may not want to read. Starting in the coming weeks, I'm going to just plow through all the movies I've seen or haven't seen, who knows. The point is that I need to start writing more here and hopefully someone out there will click on links buy something and get me out of this dreaded rut of lackluster writing. Seriously, 800 reviews and not one sale? That's harsh.

Vile Review

I caught Vile and wow, it has to get my award for the most brutal movie that I’ve seen in a long time. The film follows a group of teenagers and twenty something’s that get caught up in a deadly game. Think of another “Saw” clone and you will get close to what this whole film’s premise is. In fact, you could have called this “Saw 9” and no one would’ve noticed, as it is the exact same formula.

However, the taboos that you would normally not see in horror are found here. There is pain and anguish for the sake of it, and there’s severe brutality on women from men. Men beat the holy hell out of the girls here, all in the name of trying to get out the locked room. I can’t get behind that, it’s essentially just torture for the sake of torture, and that’s never been something I liked. It very much makes the story flow, but it’s not worthwhile.

The payoff is convoluted, the traps and the pain and suffering seems far too harsh and doesn’t end up in a means to an end situation for me. In fact, the ending is abrupt and vengeful in the story, but at that point I didn’t care. Vile is seriously twisted, and while it’s really brutal, it’s not worth your time. I tried to like it but it was just trying too hard to be “Saw” without the visuals, acting, and dare I say good plot and twist at the end.

The Conjuring Review

Well it looks like I’m back to the normal job route, and so far, I love my new job and will never go back to freelance writing again. It’s not worth it, even though I did it for a few years. Two weeks ago I saw The Conjuring, thanks to my sister. The movie has been rated really well on every major media site and so I was expecting a very good movie, and well, what I got instead was a lot of drivel, and for that reason I’m surprised that anyone loved it.

The movie follows real life exorcists and paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren. From their case files comes this story of possession, and you know everything that is going to happen. The same thing that happens in EVERY haunting movie from the last few years, happens here in the same exact way. There is NOTHING in this film that is new or unique. Outside of the fact that it may have happened in real life, this is another chapter in the “Paranormal Activity” and “Exorcist” world and it’s just drivel.

While I thought it had moments of weird, and scary times, the majority of the movie did not live up to any of the hype that was given to it by any major critic. It’s for that reason that I do not recommend this movie. It’s not worth it. It had a good opening, and then dwindled into another possession, ghost story.

Visuals in this film had some good notes, the sound design was great, and the credits at the end are well done, but the movie is not worth your time or money.

Second Look at Videodrome

When you think about the best films in blu ray, you may not immediately think about this one. However, this is an example of when technology delivers on all fronts with something amazing. For those that aren’t familiar with this movie, you are going to be blown away as it is a marvelous work of satire, oddity, and horror. We are introduced to a character that is not only obsessed, but turns into an all-out psycho amidst a flurry of visualizations that you are probably not going to see with any other movie out there. Videodrome is one of the best examples of creativity and horror elements and definitely deserves another look.

People sometimes remember this movie as a James Woods movie more than they do a Cronenberg flick, but it’s definitely one of his better ideas and movies, regardless of which person you are going to credit most between the two. The story carries through Woods’s character hallucinating and trying to figure out what is wrong with his television and as the movie progresses he realizes that it’s up to him to not only solve the riddle but destroy what very well may be the most elaborate brain control device. The movie has a stark realization throughout that points to the notion that television is controlling us all. Just think, how much time do you spend watching television in any form? You may find that this is all too real, all too real.

Throughout the dreams, the Videodrome emits violence, sex, and a variety of other things that are playing to drive the main character mad. He completely loses it and in the end, we find that the only end of the manipulating is an untimely end of it all as the main character drops out of touch with reality, permanently. For those that read into a variety of things, this is going to be one of the more elusive pieces of entertainment that you watch, until you look more into the ideas, origins, and story behind the creation of the script and production.

When you consider Criterion collection films, you will find that this is one of the better options out there. It not only captures the original movie with great precision, but makes it so much more enhanced. You’ll definitely find yourself wrapped up in Max’s world of illusion and insanity, and beyond a shadow of a doubt, if you watch it late night with the sound up, you could very well be scared to death. (ok not death) Videodrome is one of the absolute best examples of how you can mix imagery, satire, and horror all into one unflinching movement. Cronenberg does that to his audience and it wouldn’t be pulled off without the fact that this is very much a James Woods movie. If you haven’t purchased it yet, what are you waiting for? This is seriously one of the best films in blu ray available today.