Chad

3onameathook

Hellfest - I actually sat on the edge of my seat just to stay awake through the entire film. Granted there were 2 or possibly 3 scenes in the film that were decent enough, but I will have to pass on owning the dvd of this snorefest.

Gobear

That's a shame. I planned on seeing it this week with MoviePass.

jholmes

I saw The Nun in the theater today. I love religious horror and old gothic European settings, so this should have been a slam dunk for me. In the end I gave it a 6/10. It felt like the story was thin and they spent so much screen time on jump scares and "Ooh, it's the nun in the background". As if the audience wouldn't be engaged unless it was constant scary stuff. This is so typically Hollywood right now, where everything is dialed to 11 and it's all action over story.

I would have liked more explanation of the castle's curse (oh, some guy was tryin' to raise evil. end of explanation). What about the novice's visions? We never learn more about that (there were a lot, she says). I was sort of rooting for Frenchie to win the girl, but I guess that was never going to happen.

In general, I could have used less scares and more story. There needs to be some down time to really appreciate the fright beats when they come.

I checked my watch a lot. Never a good sign.

Undeadcow

House With a Clock on the Walls - it's hard to be critical of all ages films like this but the type that goes all in on magic to the level of near constant fantasy takes some of the thrill out of it in my opinion. It basically starts as a comedy and never really recovers a level of tension despite some twists running off sight gags for so much of it's time. Overall me and the kids enjoyed it and it's refreshing for their to be family friendly season offerings. I'm not a big fan of Jack Black, he's masterful sometimes but often seems to play the same basic character and struggles with dramatic chops. The rise of a darker adversary makes things more interesting but editing could have been tighter.

Trevor

MoviePass has not given me many options to use it at my local theater, so figured I better jump at the opportunity it gave me today and knock this off my checklist. Goosebumps 2 was exactly what I expected; harmless and enjoyable family fun, and great palate-cleanser after Inside.

Undeadcow

I thought Goosebumps 2 was fun also but it is an unfortunate step away from being a Goosebumps movie towards featuring generic Halloween carnage. G2 offers little new compared to the original, which is ultimately a better film by virtue of being true to franchise with a knowledgeable R.L. Stine character and relevant characters. I think it would have been interesting for G2 to be more of a true sequel to the original but it seems standalone.

Undeadcow

The Nun was an atmospheric film and I'm a sucker for the hallucination nature of many of the frights where it's more psychological. The ending shamelessly reminded me of a better film to the discredit of The Nun. I thought it was clever how they tied it into The Conjuring. It's an interesting tactic for them to sustain tension while also basically spoiling things with the promotion and character.

Undeadcow

Hellfest is a great idea, a slasher inside of a haunted house theme exhibit. The exhibit hints at the literary seven circles of hell and is so thick you can practically smell the rubber from the masks. The slasher elements could have been much stronger and sometimes the theme park elements are distracting. Overall I enjoyed it but not as much as I had hoped. There were elements of paranoia, that are great when pulled off well and here they're just kind of there because we do see as much of the killer as we do.

jholmes

Saw Halloween this past weekend with my husband. I adored it. Jamie Lee Curtis was such a kick ass grandma. And the theme of how trauma affects someone over years was great. There were a few surprises in there. Great tension throughout, nice tie in to the original, great thematic elements, great script.

I heard Jamie Lee Curtis had to put up her own money to make it (partially) because, you know, old actresses never get work. I hope she makes a shitload.

Especially nice touches:

Trevor

Yeah, the new Halloween was great, gets better the more I reflect in it. Probably my favorite sequel, or at least right up there, and a zillion times better than the last few attempts.

jholmes

Agreed! It keeps growing on me.

mallratcal

Halloween (2018) was really good, I thought most of the humor was flat but other than that it was a great sequel.