As Halloween is almost upon us, here's two spine-chilling reviews of recently watched movies ...
So … I’m going to start with Terrifier. If you’re a fan of
terror caused by silent clowns you will enjoy this. Check out my review of the
remake of IT here. The plot – well it’s not rocket science.
A television journalist named Monica interviews a severely
disfigured woman, the lone survivor of a massacre. Monica mentions the
assailant, known only as “Art the Clown,” disappeared from the morgue but the
woman emphatically asserts that she saw him die. Later, Monica mocks the
woman’s appearance while talking on the phone in her dressing room. The
disfigured woman attacks her and gouges out her eyes, laughing maniacally.
Time jump backwards. It’s Halloween night, loads of people are drunk
and dressed up; Art the Clown starts his rampage of horror and chopping; concentrating on two annoying girls but diverting his silent attention towards
anyone he gets in his way. And that’s as far as the plot really goes. But that
doesn’t matter. You don’t watch horror movies for amazing and creative plots,
you watch them to have the pants scared off you and what ensues will do that.
Art, the silent mime-clown is played brilliantly by David Howard Thornton, the violence is realistic and creative and most certainly not for the
fainthearted; there is one scene where a character is chopped up and it is
visceral, unique and a hand-in-front-of-your-eyes for a lot of viewers. Me,
look, No Hands!.
(source)
Check out this fantastic interview from David here, you can tell he really loved playing the
role, of course not being afraid of clowns helps.
The movie has a 71% rating from Rotten Tomatoes so for a
horror movie that’s ranking really well. For me it’s definitely one of the
scariest movies that is clown based anyway and certainly surpasses both
versions of IT (movies not book obviously).
I’m going to slash and chop an 8 out of 10 planets for
Terrifier. One of the scariest movies I’ve seen in ages.
Next ...
The Babadook is a 2014
Australian supernatural psychological horror film written and
directed by Jennifer Kent in her directorial debut. And what a
debut. Just wow. I loved the premise of this story.
Amelia Vanek is a troubled and exhausted widow who has
brought up her six-year-old son Samuel alone. Sam begins displaying erratic
behaviour: he becomes an insomniac and is preoccupied with an imaginary
monster, against which he has built weapons to fight. One night, Sam asks his
mother to read a pop-up storybook called Mister
Babadook. It describes the titular monster, the Babadook, a tall
pale-faced humanoid in a top hat with taloned fingers who torments its victims
after they become aware of its existence. Amelia is disturbed by the book and
its mysterious appearance, while Sam becomes convinced that the Babadook is
real. Sam's persistence about the Babadook leads Amelia to often have sleepless
nights as she tries to comfort him. She destroys the book but it reappears the
following day and new, more disturbing words have also appeared.
What follows is the normal, strange goings-on you’d expect
from a movie like this, doors opening, shadows causing you to jump but the more
interesting part is how Amelia starts to lose her mind and she eventually
starts seeing her dead husband who wants to take their son, implying he is a
conjuration of the Babadook. The rest is a tornado of possession, attacks and
eventually Amelia standing up to the Babadook. The ending is fantastic (but you
have to watch it, no spoilers here).
I have the bluray and the extras are brilliant, the
interviews and art work are fascinating, well worth a watch. Most of the time I
pay little attention to the extras but in this case they are a must. I loved
the soundtrack and the childlike story was haunting. The scratchy voice that
Sam uses when he reads the lines of the book are chilling, you will
remember them for ages.
YOU CAN’T GET RID OF THE BABADOOK … DOOK … DOOK
When the movie was released in 2014 it didn’t get much
traction but following the limelight the Sun Dance Festival shone upon it, it’s
now soaring in popularity and, strangely enough, is now seen as a gay icon - after Netflix apparently grouped it with LGBT titles - or so the urban legend says!
(The verdict is still out for me on this claim).
Either way, it’s an amazing debut from Jennifer Kent and I’ll be looking at what else she has
done. I’m giving The Babadook a 9 out of 10 planets (the extras garnered and
extra planet). Original story, great directing and acting with a brilliant
soundtrack and great ending. Nuf’ said.
John the Captain Ryan.
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