Board 8 > 2025 Horror Topic - Happy Nosferatu Day

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Snake5555555555 posted...

Oh yes Song of Horror is really great too, though there's no combat if that's a turn-off for you @Cavedweller2000

Absolutely loving Song of Horror so far @Snake5555555555

A few films to report in on:

Control Freak: This is Hulu's new exclusive body horror film starring Kelly Marie Tran. This is one of those actors I'm glad to see in a starring role, given what happened to her at the hands of the awful Star Wars fanbase. She's a great lead for this film, which feels sometimes like The Substance's younger sibling in certain ways. I will say that if you are bothered by that film's over-the-top nature, then this one may be more for you. There's still a handful of gruesome moments but they're toned down when compared to the more splattered stylings of many other films from this subgenre. Tran plays a famous motivational speaker with an insatiable itch on the back of her head, and it sort of goes from there where you might imagine it could. This film is both psychological and paranormal in nature, and I feel allows you to make the choice what you think might actually be going on. It does have some weaknesses, like the supporting cast, but overall it's a decently strong offering.

Death of a Unicorn: Of the two horror films with wide releases this weekend, I initially felt this one probably had the higher upside given how poorly Blumhouse has been trending lately. I personally still like a lot of their films, but it's hard to believe in them putting out a bona fide hit. Anyhow, we opted to check out Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd's horror comedy first. This is... a good movie, it's fun, surely. There are zany characters, mostly played by the supporting cast of Will Poulter, Tea Leoni and others. Pacing wise, I will say that there are long breaks in between what I'd call horror, especially in the first and second acts. There's plenty of unicorn gore fun sure, but something seems missing in this movie to me. I can't quite put my finger on it but it's one of those experiences I'd say I enjoyed, but I also felt like I wanted there to be a little bit... more. I'm just not certain what. One issue I did have was Rudd's character is written rather badly, because he spends most of the film completely unlikable but then gets his redemption arc. It feels a little unearned. That said, I still liked his portrayal and acting and thought the chemistry with Ortega was good for a father/daughter relationship.

I saw Control Freak too! My thoughts were that I enjoyed it but I really thought something was missing to truly make it great. Kelly Marie Tran was outstanding in it though.

I also saw Locked, which I thought was entirely fantastic. Really, really enjoyed this one. Bill Skarsgard continues to be masterful and really just makes this movie so much fun. They somehow make a movie about a guy trapped in a car for the majority of the run time truly great. And then Anthony Hopkins is so delightfully twisted in this one. I don't know what it is, but there's some scenes where he is just some captivating in the way he speaks. I think towards the end, he does so damn good. Definitely check this one out though.

Back from The Woman in the Yard.

Not everyone is gonna agree with my take on this, considering the reception seems to be lukewarm at best however... I was blown away. This movie isn't at all what you think it's about based on the trailers.

The woman being a physical manifestation of grief and mental illness was not at all what I was expecting out of this film. Maybe as someone who has struggled with dark thoughts in the past I am a little more likely than most to enjoy this movie. Genny said the ending was a little too dark for her, and at first I wondered why she felt that way until I thought more about it. I think looking back on it, it's clear Ramona lost her battle and gave in to her suicidal thoughts. The ending portrays her in the upside down world, where she can be happy and have a life that fulfills her. There are hints to that being the case left there, and honestly I was surprised to see such an intense amount of theorymaking on reddit when I looked this movie up afterward. While it would be more common and sensible for the movie to have ended where Ramona defeated her grief and came to terms with things, that's just not how mental illness works and it's clued that she was suffering from something beyond just the loss of her husband since she was having problems before that event. Sometimes, often times even, dark thoughts do lead to the inevitable.

But yeah, I went in assuming this would be some good old urban legend "this woman died here 150 years ago and she haunts the land ever since!". I wasn't expecting the subject matter at all.

Also I gotta stop hitting quote instead of spoiler. At least with that Ash "spoiler" it wasn't much of one.

I saw The Woman in the Yard too! I wouldn't say I was blown away, but I was pleasantly surprised it was a lot deeper than the trailers made it seem. I had my issues with it, but I think overall it's a really good psychological horror. Definitely recommend it though. Surprised it got panned critically as much as it did, but I have a feeling I know the reason why.

Just finished The Coffee Table and man, that was the most uncomfortably bleak movie I've seen in a while. Such a sense of dread and tension throughout and I liked how things were implied in a way that forced you to utilize your imagination to fill in the blanks. Interesting implementation of subtle comedy too that I felt like gave momentary reprieves before plunging you back into the unpleasant reality of what the characters were dealing with and the inevitable reckoning that was coming.

Pretty high on the list of movies i thought were good but have no desire to watch again

Yeah totally, I would hesitate to even recommend it to someone unless I knew they were up for anything, like this crowd. That guys anguish is still living in my head today. Great performances all around

Death of a Unicorn was good. But just good. Not anything more than good. I thought the humor in this one mostly didn't hit at all aside from a few parts (Will Poulter and Anthony Carrigan managing the best humor). I also felt it was missing something and it really ought to have been better with the premise it had. The pacing was also all over the place with this one too.

Also saw Death of a Unicorn tonight, and I enjoyed it a good bit. Definitely a fun time if not the most memorable thing I've ever seen

It's time... for another Mickey Mouse limited release film in theaters. We're heading to Screamboat in about half an hour, boy I hope it's better than I Heart Willie was.

David Howard Thornton (Art the Clown) stars this time as the warped version of Mickey, but honestly that doesn't make me all that excited. I find Terrifier in general a bit overrated. It's good, maybe the lower end of great at times, but I am not certain it has that much to do with him. It's not really Terrifier I find overrated, it's Art himself. He has a unique sort of aura about him, but I've heard way too many people likening him to horror icons and he's just not quite in that ballpark for me at this point. We'll see though, I don't think it could possibly be worse than I Heart Willie, that's going to take some doing for any film.

Oh and if that wasn't enough, something called Mouseboat Massacre released straight on to Prime in the last few days or so also. I'm not gonna commit to watching that one though given the endless sea of films on there; mouse fatigue might set in soon.

Surprisingly... Screamboat is actually fairly good. I guess I was proven wrong since I did feel Thornton brought a lot of fun and personality to this version of the character. A brief synopsis of the plot is basically a miscellaneous group of characters get stranded on the Staten Island Ferry as Willie assumes control of the vessel and carnage ensues. It does give some brief backstories but the film mostly never takes itself very seriously, which was a welcome change to the other one of these we've watched. There are lots and lots of tongue in cheek references to Disney as a company here if you're into that; it's a lot, but never goes overboard with it either I think. The kills are fun and gruesome, the effects are practical and enjoyable as well. I'm not sure how they achieved the effect with Willie himself he is actually 'mouse sized' here, well, oversized mouse but he's not just a dude in a costume at fullsize like I was expecting. but it generally looks pretty good.

A film like this would be hard-pressed to cross into "great" territory for me, but this one does it just about as well as one could possibly hope with the concept.

Hoping Hell of a Summer is good this weekend. We'll be seeing that as well Prvulos: Children of the Apocalypse, which is a Spanish language horror film from Mexico I think. I doubt it can duplicate When Evil Lurks in terms of Spanish language horror films in America, but it has a sky high RT score (with limited reviews so far though). There seems to be another limited release called Wake Up, but we might not get to see that one.

https://youtu.be/IYLHdEzsk1s?si=7JbG_K72II7onnUr

M4GAN

I decided to watch 825 Forest Road on Shudder. The main thing notable about this one is that it's the first thing the creator of Hell House LLC did that wasn't found footage and wasn't Hell House related.

Ultimately, I thought it was pretty good. They show the point of view of three different characters, so you get hints at certain things that are later shown in the different points of view, before they do the final act. That said, there's some legitimately chilling stuff in this one. There were scenes that really got me a few times and I might say it's worth watching for those. Some of the acting, however, was questionable. And the final act comes and goes way too fast, and I wish there was just a little bit more to wrap everything up. It's not amazing, but it has some really stand out parts that should be applauded.

Upcoming Predator looks amazing, wow

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

I decided to watch 825 Forest Road on Shudder.

Near the top of my list as far as streaming content goes. It seems like Shudder is going to have a lot of new content this month from the looks of things; it's been fairly quiet (I suppose they've been giving limited theatrical releases lately and I've seen all of them that way instead).

I rearranged some things and we managed to see all 3 of the new horror films that were out in theaters this past weekend. We started with the largest (and probably only really well-known) release in Hell of a Summer. This film is probably most known for being written, directed and starring Finn Wolfhard, along with Billy Bryk. I found it pretty interesting that someone this young had a project like this one, but perhaps I'll always see Finn Wolfhard as his Stranger Things character. Anyway, this is a horror comedy slasher featuring camp counselors in a familiar horror setting. Many of the characters here are a little tropey, but there were some that I did really like. Namely I liked Fred Hechinger's Jason character, had a very Dewey Riley from Scream 1 sort of vibe to him. Overall it's a well-made movie, even if it doesn't necessarily do anything special or exceedingly great. It's a fun little film that might not have a ton of depth, but should have some good humor and perhaps a likeable character or two.

I decided to reorganize the day so we'd be able to catch Wake Up, which had the most limited of all the showtimes for the movies that were out. I was pretty surprised when it showed up since I had never really heard of it or seen a trailer for it, but surprisingly I found it pretty well done. It takes a concept that reminds me of another film from a couple of years ago, Hunt Her, Kill Her and just does it a lot better. The concept for this one is that a group of young activists sneak into a large scale home furnishings store and plan to hide themselves until everyone is gone, and then vandalize the store in the name of their cause (rainforest protection generally). But there are a pair of security guards who work the store overnight, and one of them is a deranged primitive hunting obsessive madman who snaps and begins to hunt them all down while they are trapped within the confines of the store. I liked the performances here, especially from the guy who played the main killer, Turlough Convery. It's a fun cat and mouse sort of game and the interactions all feel pretty real. I was impressed with it.

Finally, Prvulos: Children of the Apocalypse was the final film we saw this weekend. Wow, now this one really is something different. I think this one is somehow getting overlooked and not receiving the love it should, because this one really felt like art to me. You can tell a lot of love and care went into crafting this. It's a take a zombie apocalypse story and focuses on 3 young brothers who live alone. The interesting thing about it is that all of them are sort of unlikable characters, but somehow that just makes the story so much more compelling. All of them are flawed in some noticable way, whether it's from being cowardly and pathetic, naive and dismissive or domineering and unwise. This is a fairly long movie and about 2 hours, but it's worth your time I think. There's really only one part near the end I might say I didn't care for all that much, but overall this is a great film that doesn't seem to be getting any notice. Try to check it out if you!

Just saw Hell of a Summer. I really don't have a ton to say about it. It was pretty fun. Pretty much exactly what you expect from a parody comedy camp murder movie. One thing that bugged me were all the bags that were literally just smash cuts. The lead is really good and the rest of the cast is kind of whatever. I dunno, I enjoyed it but it didn't light my world on fire.

Looks like we'll miss seeing Marshmallow, which is a shame because i was really looking forward to it. Vegas has no showtimes and by the time we return home it's gone from our local theaters.

Seeing Drop tonight.

We watched a film called The Wild on the plane ride out. It's fine... kinda plodding for me and the twist is too easy to see coming. Barely can call it a twist even. It's a story about 3 friends reconnecting after the death of a 4th friend, who died on a hiking trip. So the plan is to hike and camp together again to break from her death. Horror is pretty subdued and mostly psychological in nature, though not in a great way. If say the acting and direction is fine, but the script is a bit lacking. Probably one of those movies I'll barely recall by the end of the year.

Holland was pretty good, free on Prime now. I liked how it did a couple genre fake-outs, kept you guessing if it was actually horror or not. 8/10

Drop: Found this to be a fun and clever thriller/whodunit. The main characters are likable and you'll be wondering exactly what's going on for most of the film. I liked the stylized method they used to display the Drop texts, and in general the pacing of this movie is really quite nice. The trailers didn't really do it any favors I think, which could explain the weak box office performance despite pretty strong reviews across the board. It's worth checking out, even if it definitely skews more towards a more grounded sort of horror than the typical Blumhouse offering.

The Ugly Stepsister: Probably head and shoulders the best adaption of popular fairytale in terms of horror, this unsettling offering from Norway will certainly get under your skin. There are a number of eye-covering body horror scenes here, though it's not on a gorefest level at any point there are still plenty of things here even for the strongest of stomachs I think. Another high merit for this film is the fact it made almost every character sympathetic. The movie's protagonist is of course one of the stepsisters from the story, in this case they've done some renaming at least from the names I am most used to. But Cinderella is not transformed into a villain just because the POV changes, it's more nuanced and everyone has their own motives for the things they do. But yeah, this one is a good piece of art for sure.

Uncontained: I believe this is via Screambox, but I watched it with Prime. It's uh... I guess not bad. It's a zombie apocalypse style story that does a decent job of world building, but it is apparently based on a series and it sort of shows at times. While it does create a decent world, I feel it lacks much "oomph" in terms of how much actually matters. There are a number of characters introduced that will just sort of come and go and it's hard to get much of a feel for them. The core cast is good, but there are some head scratching moments especially in the final act and the very end. I just don't quite get it. I wanted to like this more but ultimately it felt like a lot of unreached potential, likely because it was trying to adapt a larger project into a single film.

Night of Wrath: This is a mostly tame "young adult" feeling horror film. Synopsis is that a group of do-gooder college students have a special club, basically like a youth group composed of future leaders. There are a lot of character to keep track of here, and I feel that even the film makes a goof at some point with keeping them apart (though I could have imagined that). They're gathered together to induct a new member, but instead have their night hijacked by the villain "Wrath", who has secret information they will expose on each of the students should they fail certain tests. It's very Scooby-Doo. Someone even backs into a door that swings open at one point. Not to say it's terrible, but know going in to this one it is very much night a teen slasher and more of a Scooby-Doo episode with a slightly darker edge. The acting is just okay, but not noticeably bad.

Tarot Curse: Tubi original we decided to check out, first one of the year I think! Last year they had a few I actually thought were pretty great; this one wasn't one of those. It's basically just last year's film Tarot with a reduced budget and basically less talented everything. It's beat for beat very similar; a tarot reading happens and the characters begin to die in ways based on whatever card they were given. It feels pretty uninspired and while it isn't awful, it's just barely passable too.

Creepbox: Bit of a hidden gem, at least in my opinion. This was something I stumbled across on Prime (and it's free with a subscription to boot). I feel like this film was inspired by the Spirit Box, which I've always felt was really interesting. It's set in the near future, and revolves around this technology that was created in order to compose an AI version of a deceased loved one based off certain parameters, as a way to say goodbye to them. The box is based around the area of the id, ego and superego and then combining those various "voices" to create the "self" you can speak to through the box. The creepiest part of that concept is that you can hear the whispers of all those different voices in the background separately, and there are a couple of pretty unnerving moments. I was really surprised by this one; it's well-made and feels like a pretty original idea I haven't really seen before.

825 Forest Road:

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

Ultimately, I thought it was pretty good. They show the point of view of three different characters, so you get hints at certain things that are later shown in the different points of view, before they do the final act. That said, there's some legitimately chilling stuff in this one. There were scenes that really got me a few times and I might say it's worth watching for those. Some of the acting, however, was questionable. And the final act comes and goes way too fast, and I wish there was just a little bit more to wrap everything up. It's not amazing, but it has some really stand out parts that should be applauded.

Yeah, I think I agree with most of this, but I might have liked it just a smidge more than you also perhaps. There were some really, really well done chills in here which I think is a horror bread and butter but also something I feel is rarely invoked these days. There are a couple of biggest scares sprinkled in, but most of the stuff is pretty subtle and in the background which I appreciate a lot. It's something I feel gets kind of lost amongst the different takes people have on the genre these days. I'm also a fan of this style of storytelling, changing perspectives and telling the story from these different POVs over the course of the same time period so we get to experience the things that were once off camera for the current protagonist. If there is a fault in this film, yeah it's the ending did feel too rushed. I'm not mad at how it ended necessarily, but I do wish it had been a longer chapter on the same length of the others.

Missed posting the list at 40 it looks like, but here's my top 41!

S Tier:

1. Heart Eyes
2. Companion
3. Prvulos: Children of the Apocalypse

A Tier:

4. The Woman in the Yard
5. Opus
6. The Ugly Stepsister
7. 825 Forest Road
8. The Monkey
9. Presence
10. The Rule of Jenny Pen
11. Creepbox
12. Ash
13. Drop
14. Wake Up
15. The Damned
16. Locked
17. Hell of a Summer
18. Dark Match
19. The Dead Thing

B Tier:

20. Grafted
21. Control Freak
22. Popeye the Slayer Man
23. Screamboat
24. Wolf Man
25. Death of a Unicorn
26. Members Club
27. Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare
28. Bystanders

C Tier:

29. Inhabitants
30. Uncontained
31. The Yorkie Werewolf
32. The Bayou
33. Are You There?
34. Night of Wrath
35. Dark Nuns
36. The Monster Beneath Us

D Tier:

37. Tarot Curse
38. Rounding
39. Werewolf Game
40. The Demoness

F Tier:

41. I Heart Willie

v_charon posted...

The trailers didn't really do it any favors I think, which could explain the weak box office performance despite pretty strong reviews across the board.

Can confirm the trailers for Drop were pretty awful

Which is why I haven't seen it yet

I could barely drag Genny to see it, but she agreed it was actually pretty good once we did watch it.

I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be a comedy or not? Like it acted serious but then kept showing bad memes and tried to play the phone ping as a dramatic sound cue which was just grating to listen to

I guess they thought the meme stuff might sell tickets. It's over very quickly, and the movie is definitely never presented as a comedy.

Yes I wanted to drop kick even the concept of the damned movie after being forced to listen to that trailer a good five times per work day leading up to its release, not to mention every time I caught a theatrical release horror the trailer would play again. I was so sick of hearing that godforsaken buzzing noise... but yeah, the movie itself was surprisingly competent and the last act took quite a turn and kept me on my toes. Had to turn my brain off and suspend disbelief a bit, but it was worth it. It's no Heart Eyes, and yet it has a similar sort of charm. But also I don't necessarily think I'd want to see either one a second time. Heart Eyes is going to be my The Substance of 2025 I think: the best movie I'll have no desire to watch again, but for very different reasons.

sneaking in here since i finally saw nosferatu last night with my flatmates

i found it unintentionally hilarious how much they said "he is coming", especially in hindsight given the conclusion lmao

Uh, yeah.

Make sure you don't miss Sinners.

Believe the hype. Sinners blew Companion and Heart Eyes and every other great movie so far this year out the damn water.

Just saw the teaser for the new movie from Barbarian's director, Weapons. Really great teaser, just having kids running in the dark with their arms outstretched is surprisingly perfectly creepy. Excited to check that one out with how much I loved Barbarian, also didn't realize until now he was one of the Whitest Kids U Know main members, actually wild but super cool lol

Bane_Of_Despair posted...

Just saw the teaser for the new movie from Barbarian's director, Weapons.

Yeah, we saw this in front of Sinners and had to look it up to figure out what it was. Pretty intriguing teaser for sure, and I thought Barbarian was great so hopefully this will be too.

I'm gonna leave a few actual thoughts for Sinners because I think it deserves more than just an urging to see it. For starters, this is a lot more than just another vampire movie. It does clock in at 2 hours and 17 minutes, maybe more with both a mid-credits and post-credits scene but it honestly never felt that long to me. Unlike most horror films, this one takes a good chunk of time introducing you to the characters and the world properly rather than just throwing you in and hoping you'll like the characters you meet along the way. By the time the big horror parts of this film actually begin, you'll have been learning about these characters and have some attachment to their well-being. There's just so many little things done well here, Ryan Coogler is a genius and I hope he'll decide to do more films within the horror genre in the future. Everything feels meticulously crafted with such vision, the world he creates is just dripping with richness and character.

The cast here is incredible also. The supporting characters, sometimes even ones that only get a few lines, are portrayed in such a way that you're transported to the time period. The lead actors all give flawless performances. I read after the film that Miles Caton, who plays one of the central characters in this movie, did not even know how to play the guitar before taking the role (this guy is such a good guitar player that he can conjure up the past and the future, excellent scene btw). And what can you really say about Michael B. Jordan here? He honestly better win an Oscar for this. The film itself should probably win several Oscars as well, but man is this man awesome in this movie. He plays the dual roles of brothers obviously, and yeah, I just can't say enough about it. Just an incredible performance to bring not just one character but two to life. I'd be willing to watch this again already, that's how much I liked it. Of course my schedule would never allow for it but yeah, check this out ASAP.

I'm contemplating going to see Sinners in theaters, it does feel like a special one from the little I've seen and what I've heard

Do it.

Planning on seeing Sinners next week

Warfare this week. Maybe Drop too before it leaves theaters.

Johnbobb posted...

Maybe Drop too before it leaves theaters.

Edit: lolnope already too late

Alright I have tickets to see Sinners on Sunday, the best day of the week to be sinners

Until Dawn and The Shrouds will both be out this weekend, tickets to both.

I'm not so sure about Until Dawn honestly, the more of it I see the less I'm thrilled. They're not going to do the game justice, like at all. It really just looks like Happy Death Day and Tarot again with a different set up...

Yea I was never expecting anything great of the Until Dawn movie

It sounds like an interesting concept for a horror movie but it also feels like they took an unrelated horror movie and slapped the Until Dawn name onto it

You know what, it wasn't bad at all. I'd almost go so far as it say it was actually pretty nice. The thing it isn't, of course, is Until Dawn. You can see the inspiration, in a couple of areas, but it does just feel like an unconnected entity. That said, I feel like it fits well in Supermassive's catalog however. Like from the setup to how some of the scenes are shot, I could totally buy this as a film version of like an unreleased Dark Pictures game from them.

The characters are okay. Nothing mind-blowing but the acting is competent and while I wouldn't say there were any standouts, I don't feel like anyone got lost or blurred together like is the case with many other films with this young adult style of cast. The movie probably shines the brightest once the action beats start coming; our theater was pretty loaded but unfortunately we had some young Gen Z people right to our right doing the typical behavior of making too much noise and constantly on the phone. But one particular scene finally made them pay attention, react to the film and put away their social media for a second. I liked that. This was also a movie that benefited from its R rating; the kills are pretty gruesome and they don't shy away from using effects to emphasize them.

But yeah, it was actually an enjoyable little film if you set aside the property it's based on.

Juts got back from Sinners. Enjoyed it a lot! I almost prefer the parts before it turns fully into a vampire horror movie even! I did enjoy those parts too, especially the Irish jig scene and just their general motivations (or at least what they SAY their motivations are, could just be saying it to appease the humans left). I also really liked the ending with the elder Sammie being confronted by Stack and Mary.

And of course the main message I took away from the movie is that the Irish are evil. Just kidding, but I do like connecting the aforementioned jig scene (and of course that being the head vampire is Irish) and the fact that the beer was specifically Irish that caused Delta to choke during the garlic scene and got that other guy killed when they took him outside thinking he was surrounded by blood instead of the beer.

So as good as Sinners was and as much as I love it... we just got back from the theater without seeing The Shrouds because they resold the theater as another showtime for Sinners without announcing it. Really bummed, have tickets to it again tomorrow but pretty worried it might happen again. They're the only theater locally that picked it up too.

Oh that's lame

My opinion on the movie Sinners hasn't soured at all, but hoo boy have my thoughts on people and the movie going experience as a whole taken quite the hit tonight. Cronenberg is a legend in the field, and to disrespect him like this is kind of a slap in the face.

I was a little worried about my crowd going into it but they ended up alright, some of them laughed at a few points but they were during times that were fairly appropriate for some chuckles and it wasn't like, overkill laughing.

I've heard The Shrouds isn't all that good, so you may have lucked out. Lol

Just saw Sinners and loved it though. Such a beautiful, haunting movie with so much charm and character. Just something creative I loved watching.

The reviews on it seem mixed, in a way that critics seem to have liked it but audiences are a bit lukewarm to it. Hopefully we'll have the chance to see it tonight; I'll admit, I haven't seen all that many of Cronenberg's films and the ones I have outside of The Fly I haven't really liked that much. I do like the trailer I've seen for The Shrouds, seems spooky and haunting, so I'm hopeful for it.

In light of what happened yesterday, we decided to stream a movie on Netflix instead. It's one they quietly released in the West earlier this year from Indonesia called Sumala. The general plot here should be one that's fairly familiar to a western audience; a mother makes a deal with the devil to have children, but the deal is that she'll have twins. One of them will be the good one, and the other will be the devil's child. They must raise both of them until the age of 10, and then the devil will come and claim his child and leave them in peace. The most unique thing about this movie is that its victims are mostly children under the age of 10 or so. That's especially surprising to see because even a dark franchise like Terrifier has shied away from killing children on-screen. This movie pulls no punches however and gives a lot of them pretty brutal deaths complete with the gore.

I liked it more than many of the more recent foreign language films I've seen, especially from Asia. The region tends to have hit or miss with me, and usually I just attribute it to cultural variances. But this one actually makes the transition pretty nicely, it feels very much like something you'd see out here (outside of that spoilery bit). It's pretty decent, worth a watch I think.

Well it was... not good. Yeah. Very unfortunate to say but I can't give this one a recommendation at all.

I feel like most people agree that the concept is really cool. The Shrouds as a concept sounds like it would be really spooky and might lend itself well to the body horror genre. The deceased are wrapped in a high-tech shroud during burial and you can view your loved one live from inside their grave in detail. I don't think most people would want to actually do that, but again the concept sounds like it'd make for a scary movie just in concept. In execution though, this movie is so meandering and riddled with plotholes/unanswered questions. Cronenberg not only directed but wrote this film so I hate to say that the writing was bad, but it just was in my opinion. The dialogue here sometimes feels so otherworldly, but in a bad way. So much of the discussion between the characters feels very off, like it was written by an AI or an alien. If you want to create a horror drama I think it's important to have the characters feel very human, and these largely did not.

And this is for sure a horror drama for the record. As spooky and creepy as the concept sounds, the horror aspects are mostly existential in nature. There are body horror images, but they're there to make you uncomfortable and if this movie had good writing, to add as a backdrop to a dramatic story. That doesn't really exist though. There are just so many twists and turns until eventually, you just give up trying to follow the plot or caring at all. I will say that it looks good, and there's good direction too. I mean it's shot well and there's a concept here that's totally interesting, but it almost never appears through the muck. I guess we really should have just watched Sinners again!

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

I've heard The Shrouds isn't all that good, so you may have lucked out. Lol

Just saw Sinners and loved it though. Such a beautiful, haunting movie with so much charm and character. Just something creative I loved watching.

Yeah.... maybe we should've seen Sinners again after all.

Watched Frewaka on Shudder. I thought it was great! The pacing maybe could have used a bit of work, but I thought it was a fascinating Irish folk movie.

It's about a woman who is becoming a caretaker for an elderly woman who has mental issues who keeps thinking people are coming for them.

The last act I thought was extremely strong. The last scene in particular will stick with me.