Fall holidays beat all other holidays. In our house, Spooky Season lasts from the end of September to Black Friday. But between the time I started working on my 31 for 31 wish list, life got a little tough. Like you do, I lost track of following through with something that made me happy. Looking back on the notes from the movies I watched, they're just a little bit completely and utterly indecipherable. So instead of trying to review movies which, in many cases, are genre standards that little ol' me couldn't possibly have any hot takes on anyway, its going to be a little bit stream of consciousness.
I haven't written on a regular basis in a long time, I'll ask you in advance to cut me a break. Someday, I would like this to be a supporting platform for a bigger project. I appreciate anyone who hangs out with me here in the early days while I knock the dust off, get a little candid and a lot spooky.
So, without further ado, the first ever Spirit Rapping Spooky Season 31 for 31.
- They Look Like People; Directed by Perry Blackshear, 2015 UR
Suspecting that those around him are actually malevolent shape-shifters, a troubled man questions whether to protect his only friend from an impending war, or from himself. - Metacritic summary
This movie seems like it was generally received well critically, currently holding a 92% Tomatometer score. But Joe Shmoe audiences are not impressed - it's sitting at only a 58% Popcornmeter and a star rating of 5.8 on IMDB. This baffles me somewhat. I'll admit its a slow burn, but it's got a tension and a darkness to it. I found all the characters to be both likeable and unreliable, which is a great combination. The threat is ambiguous but aggressively present. It's got rawness and urgency that make the pace feel good, despite the slow start. Start this one with some patience and an open mind, and I predict you're going to have a good time.
- Horror Score - Unsettling and completely impossible to truly tell who's on the level, who's got an ulterior motive or who has lost their grip on reality. Absolutely oozing with atmosphere, guaranteed to give you a anxiety attack if you suffer from Imposter Syndrome.
- 💀💀💀
- Accessibility Score - No gore, but could be a hard watch if you're going through any kind of mental health crisis. A big part of the horror here is the characters' own anxieties and catastrophizing, and the potential that just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't still plotting against you.
- 💀💀💀💀
- Candyman: Directed by Bernard Rose, 1992 R
The Candyman, a murderous soul with a hook for a hand, is accidentally summoned to reality by a skeptic grad student researching the monster's myth. - Metacritic summary
There is nothing I can say that hasn't already been said about this classic. In my opinion, this Clive Barker's most accessible work, which is saying something for a movie about a man who was lynched and eaten by bees. The same Lovecraftian hyper-fixation on ambiguously rich purely academic white people that we expect from Barker, but the 2021 version took this trope and turned it on its head. I wonder if anyone suspected what a great closed loop this film would be a part of someday. Ideal watching conditions- a bottle of sweet red wine, someone you want to throw a bone in (weirdly sexy to someone, like everything Barker touches) and immediately followed up with the reboot.
- Horror Score - A heavy-hitting genre staple. Romance for horror junkies, mysterious lore for weird fiction addicts and splashy, flashy, dreamy looking gore. The racial tension here is hard to watch sometimes, for being alternatingly heart-breaking and heavy handed. But in the post-George Floyd world, who's not a little less effected by that bee's sting by now?
- 💀💀💀💀💀
- Accessibility Score - A little tough. The gore is not realistic in anyway, but the violence is still brutal. Gas lighting and violence against women and children and dismissal of minority narrative, oh my. Easier than some, but not for beginners.
- 💀💀💀
- Ju-On; Origins; Directed by Sho Miyake, 2020 TV-MA
A paranormal researcher hunts for a cursed house where something terrible happened to a woman and her child long ago. - Rotten Tomatoes summary
- Horror Score - On brand for what we've come to expect from this IP. Dark, unsettling, uncomfortable to watch. Some truly disturbing moments, both supernatural and domestic. A beautifully, extremely bleak story about the difficulty of breaking out of a generations-long downward spiral.
- 💀💀💀
- Accessibility Score - Absolutely not for beginners. Japanese horror at its best, this series is scary, emotionally fraught and gross- the full trifecta. The traditional scares are far enough between that you have some breathing room. But definitely do a trigger warning search before you try this one, if you need that kind of thing.
- 💀💀
