Category: Movie Review

Most of the time I see a movie, especially a rare kind of horror movie that’s actually scary, and I get wary. Horror and comedy lend themselves to crappy straight to video sequels and well…(sigh).

So days after Sarah crawled her way out of the caves, bloody and beaten, the cops find her. The trauma of the caves has left her nearly catatonic and suffering from amnesia. The sheriff doesn’t buy it and organizes a search party to find the girls from the first movie, ordering Sarah to come with them. Along the journey, evidence arises towards the grisly end of Sarah’s friends and soon the the Crawlers attack but as the group divides, another survivor emerges…

I try to be as honest when doing these reviews so I have to say Descent 2 outright pissed me off. I wasn’t surprised that the cave is well lighted the whole time and the amount of flashbacks and the reliance on Easter eggs from the first. What pissed me off was that other survivor (I don’t want to spoil it) because after that, the movie starts to crap on what I liked about the first. The plot itself is borderline idiotic and I wasn’t invested in any of the characters; I even laughed my ass off at a poorly done heroic death. The score is decent and there are some decent gore effects but nothing worth mentioning. In the end, I say skip this pointless sequel because it will tarnish the first for you. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

I see a ton of trailers just to report about them here and I’ve seen a billion in my lifetime. The Descent was a rare case. In a era of gore-porn in horror I thought suspense was pretty much gone and while I loved the trailer, I assumed this was going to be another mindless bloodbath. I was insanely wrong…

Sarah and her gal pals are adventurous thrill seekers who love pushing there limits. After tragedy strikes, Sarah is left broken inside after losing everything. A year later, her friend Juno reunites the women for a all girls weekend and a new adventure: exploring what they are led to believe is a routine cavern dive. At first all is well and they are treated to wondrous sights and thrills they’d been hoping for. It quickly becomes a nightmare when a tight tunnel caves in and the truth comes out, they were never in a explored area. As the ladies struggle to find a way in, fear settles in and the group begins turning on each other, but little do they know they are far from alone down there…

In no way is this a perfect movie but damn I love it. The movie is excellent at mounting tension and carries suspense all the way through. I have to credit the filmmakers because the use of darkness and various lighting is extremely well done and at times adds to the freaky atmosphere with a good score. The actresses have really good chemistry and it’s easy to care about them and believe they were longtime friends. I love that the plot has layers to it, not sticking to a creature feature or a survival moment and there is a nice ribbon of revenge in it.  The Crawlers are creepy and I appreciate a B movie concept pushed to a scary level of these inhuman freaks. As I said though, this movie is far from perfect however. There are some stupid jump scares thrown in with some genuinely good scares and I found most  of the jump scares annoying. With a lot of the fast editing and dark backgrounds, some action scenes are frankly a cluster fuck to watch. The opening 10 minutes feel awkward and admittedly, I know this movie has 3 ending and I’ve seen 2 and thought both were pretty lame.  Despite a weak start and weak finish, The Descent is a damn good horror movie that still keeps me on edge that I highly recommend. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark trilogy was one of my favorite collections of horror growing up and as I’ve gotten older, my appreciation has only grown. After seeing what became of Goosebumps (2015) , I was dreading this movie but after the trailers I was pretty excited to see these stories that haunted me as a child come to life.

Stella and her friends are normal kids growing up in the late 60’s, celebrating there last Halloween as kids. While running from a group of bullies, they meet a dude at a drive in they befriend and go off to investigate the town’s resident haunted house. Inside the house they find a sinister looking book that tells horrific stories that come to life, and they are the victims. Can Stella and her friends solve the mystery of the book before it claims there lives for it’s scary stories?

First things first, I have to give huge props to the effects team for bringing the book’s iconic pictures to life in pretty awesome and freaky ways. The setpieces are really well designed and there are some creepy ass scenes. The characters are solid and likable enough to carry what would be a generic enough story. There are some jump scares but only one that’s truly cheap without a payoff. There are a few pacing issues I had and I wish we had a bit more of the source material on screen than we got. In the end, Scary Stories is a surprisingly solid horror movie I’d recommend checking out. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Recently, I have just turned 29 and it’s the year 2020 so I can say I feel freaking old. When this movie originally came out, the hype through my middle school was real. This was the movie that kicked off the trend of American remakes of Asian horror films: The Grudge, Shutter, and The Eye just to name a few. The trend then annoyed me so I avoided this movie like the plague, but 18 years later was I wrong?

Rachael is a young mom who is wrapped up in her journalistic work, frequently neglecting her intelligent, quiet, and self sufficient son Aden. When Aden’s best friend and cousin Katie dies under mysterious circumstances all of a sudden, Rachael looks into the only clue she can find: a videotape. Legend has it that anyone who watches will die seven days later; Rachael watches it and now the race is on to uncover the cryptic mystery of the tape before Rachael and her son die from a malevolent force, Samara.

Not knowing anything about the basic premise going in, I wished I paid this movie a watch back then. The movie looks damn good visually and I must admit, the tape is unsettling and the effects hold up surprisingly well nearly two decades later. The main actors do a good job and it’s easy to relate to the characters, including the villain Samara who has a tragic backstory. The lore behind the tape was my favorite part besides the false ending. The only real complaint I have is sometimes the acting in certain scenes feels clunky and having images from the tape flash at you for a jump scare has effective moments, it starts to get old, especially if it ain’t your first viewing. In the end, I think it’s a pretty damn good horror movie that’s gladly recommend. May the gaming gods bring you glory.