Monthly Archives: October 2019

AHS 1984 Marks 100 Episodes of American Horror Story

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Hard to believe, but American Horror Story has hit its 100th episode in Season 9. It’s an impressive milestone and one that heightens expectations for AHS 1984’s sixth episode. Audiences likely expect some big surprises for Number 100. And with the wide-open ending from last week’s Red Dawn, AHS 1984 has the additional challenge of moving its story forward.

The Night Stalker and Mr Jingles Road Trip Show

Things pick up a year after the Camp Redwood Massacre. Ramirez and Richter are still travelling buddies, but the former ‘Mr Jingle’s has grown tired of the killing. In spite of the pact he made to The Night Stalker, Richter alerts locals to Ramirez’s presence, getting him arrested. Time skips ahead another four years where we find Richter now married and living under a new identity in Alaska. After years of torment, Richter has found peace and even has an infant son. But The Night Stalker escapes from prison, finds Richter, and murders his wife. With any hope for an idyllic family life shattered, Richter leaves his son on a family’s doorstep and heads back to Camp Redwood for revenge.

How Montana Got Her Groove Back

Four years after the massacre, Montana and Xavier have fully embraced purgatory at Camp Redwood. The former counselors pass the time by murdering anyone who happens to stumble on the closed campgrounds. In particular, Xavier seems thrilled with the simple pleasures of being ‘bad’. However, Ray and the original 1970’s counselors are mortified by the callousness of Montana and Xavier. But poor Ray still gets stuck with cleaning up their messes.

…Montana and Xavier have fully embraced purgatory at Camp Redwood.

But if anyone did well after the Camp Redwood massacre, it’s Margaret Booth. A two-time survivor, Margaret has leveraged her survival into a lucrative real estate business. She buys up old homes closed after brutal crimes and markets them as ‘true-crime attractions’. And Margaret’s married … to Trevor. Somehow Trevor survived being stabbed by Margaret. After waking from a coma to discover Margaret is now rich, Trevor blackmailed her into a marriage in return for his silence. As the backlash to exploiting tragedies increases, Margaret doubles-down. When she hears about a new series of murders at Camp Redwood, she decide to re-brand the site as another one of her crime attractions with a concert for the grand opening.

Brooke Can’t Catch a Break

The biggest loser of the Camp Redwood Massacre is poor Brooke. Arrested and convicted for all the murders, Brooke waits for her execution day on death row. Totally unable to catch a break, she suffers the additional misfortune of having The Night Stalker has her neighbour on death row. On the long walk to her execution, Ramirez offers her the same deal he gave Mr Jingles, which Brooke flatly refuses. Instead, it’s lethal injection for the presumed ‘Final Girl’. But there’s one last twist. It seems we forgot all about Donna Chambers. Apparently, she’s pretty adept at pretending to be someone else. Disguised as the executioner, Donna secretly saves Brooke, so maybe she is our ‘Final Girl’.

All Roads Lead Back to Camp Redwood

Given this is American Horror Story’s 100th episode, one can’t help but be a little underwhelmed. Aside from a few season-specific surprises, AHS 1984 didn’t do much to mark the occasion. And even those sparse surprises weren’t really that shocking. Though Season 9 is obviously intended to be somewhat satirical, there’s also some logical inconsistencies that are hard to ignore. In death, Ray has inexplicably gone from cowardly and selfish to moral and principled. Right-wing, religious zealot Margaret is now just a money-hungry, real estate mogul. It’s little things like this that contribute to the unevenness that often defines American Horror Story. Consider it a missed opportunity for Murphy to use the 80’s setting to explore the relationship between the decade’s conservatism and the sub-genre. Still, there’s no denying the season’s sharp humour and forward-looking momentum.

You Can’t Kill the Boogeyman: How To Watch The Halloween Franchise

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It’s every horror fan’s favourite time of year. Halloween is just days away now. No doubt, many of you have already been queuing up your favourite scary movies. But what’s more fun than a movie marathon of your favourite series? And what better time to re-visit the Halloween franchise itself. But like any long-running horror property, Halloween and its ‘Boogeyman’, Michael Myers, have undergone several facelifts. Though not as convoluted as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series, Halloween has sequels, remakes, sequels to remakes, and reboots. Not even the sequels themselves follow a direct story. So if you’re looking to spend the night with Michael Myers, there’s a few different ways to watch the series for some sense of continuity. Below are the various Halloween sequel timelines and their respective movies.

The Blumhouse Halloween Timeline

The Movies: Halloween (1978), Halloween (2018)

After collecting dust for nearly a decade, Jason Blum and his Blumhouse Productions resurrected Michael Myers. John Carpenter was back, albeit as an executive producer (he also composed iconic score again). So was Jamie Lee Curtis. Aside from being the best sequel in the series, Halloween 2018 simplifies a confusing continuity. This is a direct sequel to Carpenter’s 1978 original, with every other movie wiped from existence. No more sibling rivalry. No more ‘Cult of Thorn’. Just a straightforward, lean, and scary sequel. While there’s only two movies in this timeline, just give it a few years. Blumhouse announced two sequels – Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends.

The Original Laurie Strode Timeline

The Movies: Halloween (1978), Halloween II (1980), Halloween H2O: 20 Years Later (1998), Halloween: Resurrection (2002)

Technically, this sort of qualifies as the franchise’s original timeline. Here, the franchise’s first sequel introduces the idea that Michael and Laurie are brother and sister. Oh, it’s also set in the most understaffed hospital ever. Following Halloween II, Laurie Strode didn’t return to the franchise until 1998’s Halloween H20: 20 Years Later. Forget Danielle Harris’ ‘Jamie Lloyd’. This sequel ignores Halloween III to Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. Laurie Strode has a son, not a daughter, a new name, and a new job.

It’s the Halloween movie with not one, but two, franchise low-points.

While Halloween H2O improved on most of the sequels, it wasn’t the end. No, Halloween: Resurrection ends this timeline. Director Rick Rosenthal was back behind the camera for this lame sequel. It’s the Halloween movie with not one, but two, franchise low-points. Halloween: Resurrection kills Laurie Strode in the first act. And Busta Rhymes beats Michael Myers in a kung fu-inspired fight. And this isn’t even the worst movie in the franchise.

The Silver Shamrock Timeline

The Movies: Halloween III Season of the Witch

You have a budding, successful horror franchise with one of the most recognizable horror movie monsters in recent memory. What do you do next? Make a movie without your horror baddie, of course. And that’s what happened. Originally, John Carpenter envisioned a series of ‘Halloween’ movies, each one focused on an original tale. Rick Rosenthal directed Halloween II; Carpenter reluctantly co-wrote the screenplay. Season of the Witch was a return to the original idea – a non-Michael Myers story. Despite audiences outright rejecting the movie, Season of the Witch, and its story of an evil Halloween mask company, is pretty good. Take ‘Halloween’ out of the title and any preconceptions about its story, and its box office fate may have been different.

The Jamie Lloyd Timeline

The Movies: Halloween (1978), Halloween (1981)*, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988), Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989), Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (19950

Though this timeline includes the original 1978 Halloween, this is Jamie Lloyd’s story told over its own three movies. Following the collective shoulder-shrugging that met Halloween III, executive producer Moustapha Akkad didn’t just bring Michael Myers back. He made sure to announce his return right in the title. Of course, it took some light ret-conning to bring back both Myers and Dr Loomis, but nothing we haven’t seen in any other horror franchise. As nice as it was to have ‘The Shape’ back on the screen, The Return of Michael Myers can’t shake feeling a bit derivative of the slashers the original movie influenced. Nonetheless, there’s still a few nice slasher moments and an ending that promises a new direction.

All six years got Halloween fans was some ridiculous retconning, a ‘Cult of Thorn’, and no Danielle Harris.

Too bad Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers fumbled the ball on that ending. Instead, it’s all familiar ‘stalk and slash’ with one truly good sequence in the abandoned Myers house. Like Part 4, The Revenge of Michael Myers looked to shake things up with a ‘Man in Black’ and a cliffhanger ending. However, it would take six years for the next sequel. Even that wasn’t enough time to come up with logical, let alone, good follow up. All six years got Halloween fans was some ridiculous retconning, a ‘Cult of Thorn’, and no Danielle Harris. Bottom-line – Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers is the worst movie in the series. Not even a young Paul Rudd could save this sequel.

The Rob Zombie Timeline

The Movies: Halloween (2007), Halloween II (2009)

In spite of its title, Halloween: Resurrection turned out to be a bit of a franchise killer. Even when studios were ready to ‘resurrect’ Michael Myers again, they opted for the ‘remake-re-imagining’ route. Enter Grindhouse master Rob Zombie who promptly gave Michael Myers a ‘Hillbilly’ origin story. Though it was counter-intuitive to ‘The Shape’s’ mystique, Zombie’s Halloween 2007 takes the franchise in a fresh direction for its first half. Then Zombie was forced into cramming the original movie into his remake’s back half. For his 2009 sequel, however, Zombie had free reign. The result was a brutal, sadistic movie with some idiosyncratic flair, but ultimately too ugly for most fans.

Silent Hill: AKA The Movie Where Sean Bean Doesn’t Die

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Horror movies adapted from video games don’t have a checkered history. By and large, critics have universally loathed these movies. ‘Director’ Uwe Boll scraped the bottom of the barrel with adaptations of Alone in the Dark and House of the Dead. On the other end of the spectrum, Paul WS Anderson’s Resident Evil probably remains the ‘gold standard’ of the sub-genre. Though it’s not a bad movie, however, Resident Evil is hardly The Exorcist. And then there’s the 2006 Silent Hill adaptation. Critics were unimpressed, but it performed modestly well at the box office. In the years since its release, Silent Hill has also built up something of a cult following. Enough people like the movie for Shout Factory to re-issue a Collector’s Edition under their Scream Factory label. Did the critics get it wrong? Or is Silent Hill just another bad video game movie?

Silent Hill an Atmospheric and Visually Impressive Horror Movie

Admittedly, I’m not much of a ‘gamer’ and have no direct experience with the video game on which the movie is based. But I have seen director Christophe Gans’ Brotherhood of the Wolf. For the uninitiated, Gans’ French-Canadian historical-horror movie is a visually stunning, narratively twisting achievement. Not surprisingly then, Silent Hill is an impressive horror movie to look at it. In spite of what was likely a modest budget, Gan’s adaptation of the video games overflows with both classic horror iconography and Silent Hill’s bizarrely imaginative creatures. In particular, the game’s ‘Pyramid Head’ and ‘Faceless Nurses’ are gruesomely rendered on screen. Alongside, the impressive set designs for the town itself, Silent Hill looks as good as just about any horror movie in recent memory.

… Silent Hill looks as good as just about any horror movie in recent memory.

Moreover, Silent Hill doesn’t shy away from violence, implied or otherwise. From immolation to ‘Pyramid Head’ tearing the skin from a character’s body, Gans’ immerses you in the game’s grisly world. By and large, most of the movie’s effects hold up, though not as well as the character and set designs. Consistent with many 2000’s horror movies, Silent Hill overuses CGI effects, which immediately date the movie. In addition to the occasionally unconvincing CGI, Silent Hill veers into uncomfortable territory. A monstrous janitor creature and story-line involving child sexual abuse is dark subject matter for any move, let alone one adapted from a video game. Today, this type of story might be deemed unnecessary given all the other horrific content already swirling about in the movie.

A Nearly Incomprehensible Story and Lack of Scares Set Up a Glass-Ceiling

Despite its impressive visuals and set design, two major problems plague Silent Hill. First, Silent Hill is not a scary movie. Yes, it looks scary. But it’s not really scary. At all. While there’s atmosphere to spare for much of the movie, don’t expect any jumps or jolts. Similarly, Gans fails to create any true sense of suspense. This in part can be attributed to a lack of character development – you don’t really care much about any of the characters in the movie. But from just a film-making perspective, Silent Hill lacks any true moment of ‘edge-of-your-seat’ thrills. Arguably, a scene involving the ‘Faceless Nurses’ is as close as the movie ever gets to suspenseful. And at over two hours, even the movie’s atmosphere eventually dries up.

The expository dialogue almost requires subtitles to add in more background information.

Of course, it’s not just the length that hurts Silent Hill’s creepy atmospherics. Even with Roger Avary (Pulp Fiction) writing the screenplay, Silent Hill is a convoluted, almost incoherent, movie. I’ll assume that the filmmakers had to cram in story and mythology from multiple editions of the game because this is a movie crammed with things that need explaining. Flashbacks and excessive expository dialogue bog the movie down, often killing any momentum. Not even the required persistent need to explain everything helps make sense of what’s happening. The expository dialogue almost requires subtitles to add in more background information. By the time Silent Hill hits its final act, it’s hard to understand why characters are doing certain things. Fortunately, the movie’s ending leaves things on an ambiguously unsettling note.

At Least Silent Hill Doesn’t Kill Sean Bean

Silent Hill had a lot going for it despite its video game roots. An art-house indie director, an Oscar-winning screenwriter, and a strong cast that included Radha Mitchell and Sean puts Silent Hill miles ahead of Mortal Kombat. And the game itself is apparently quite a scary experience. But as good as it looks, Silent Hill is too long, nearly incomprehensible, and lacking in real scares. On the other hand, it’s an entirely watchable movie that never gets boring. Maybe it takes itself too seriously to make for the same kind of ‘guilty pleasure’ viewing as Resident Evil or Street Fighter. but the set design and visuals are too good to outright label a bad movie. As a compromise, I’ll call Silent Hill a movie for fans of the video game, but not necessarily a horror movie to seek out.

FINAL VERDICT: NOT BAD, BUT NOT ‘SO BAD, IT’S GOOD’

Rattlesnake Lacks Enough Bite to Get Under Your Skin

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With Halloween less than a week away, Netflix has released its latest original horror-thriller, Rattlesnake. Arguably, Netflix and Chills has underwhelmed this year. In place of The Haunting of Hill House, Netflix has treated horror fans to middling thrillers, Eli and In The Tall Grass, and the ‘candy corn’ of horror series, Haunted. Two years ago, writer and director Zak Hilditch helmed the effectively creepy Stephen King adaptation, 1922. Can Hilditch follow up on his previous success with another quietly unsettling effort? Or is Rattlesnake just a toothless thriller?

Synopsis

Single-mom Katrina’s road trip with young daughter, Clara, is abruptly disrupted when her car blows a tire. As she struggles to replace it, a rattlesnake bites Clara, leaving her gravely ill with no help in sight. But when Katrina finds a dilapidated trailer, a strange woman offers to help for a price. When Katrina gets her daughter to a hospital, Clara has amazingly healed. Now Katrina discovers the price for her daughter’s miraculously recovery – a life for a life. Haunting figures throughout the small town warn Katrina that she has until sunset to replace her daughter’s soul with another human life.

Rattlesnake Can’t Build From Its Stephen King Vibes

On paper, Rattlesnake has a winning premise. A ‘deal with the devil’, an isolated small town, and ominous warnings from the dead – it all could have been ripped from the pages of a Stephen King novel. When Zak Hilditch adapted King’s 1922, he showed a methodical, patient approach to horror. Similar to his previous Netflix offering, Hilditch again illustrates a good grasp of genre atmosphere. Rattlesnake makes the most of its sun-soaked environment, soaking itself in a quietly dreadful atmosphere. Here and there, Hilditch manages to put some strikingly creepy images up on the screen. And there’s the problem with the movie. Though it has atmosphere to spare and manages to be occasionally creepy, it’s not a scary movie.

As the movie hits its final act, most of the atmosphere and suspense has evaporated.

No jumps or jolts and just a little bit of blood, Rattlesnake is a fairly tame affair. Yes, there are a couple of genuinely suspenseful moments. Rattlesnake’s best moment emerges when Karolina lurks in an abusive boyfriend’s hallway, waiting for him to come around the corner. It’s this kind of ‘will she or won’t she’ scene where Rattlesnake excels. Sadly, there’s just not enough of these scenes. As the movie hits its final act, most of the atmosphere and suspense has evaporated. That is, Hilditch’s climax is rather anti-climatic – a surprisingly uneventful capper to the whole movie.

A Premise Barely Scratched

In spite of the interesting moral dilemma at the heart of its story, Rattlesnake never really emotionally engages. Part of this can be attributed to a screenplay that doesn’t full flesh out its main character. We never really learn much about Karolina and, as a result, it’s difficult to invest in her plight. Another problem is the movie’s pacing. At times, Rattlesnake feels like its just moving from creepy scene to creepy scene. Even with her daughter’s life on the line, Rattlesnake has a hard time creating the feeling that there are stakes. And a premise that should provoke discomfort and tension never rises above an average Twilight Zone episode.

…a premise that should provoke discomfort and tension never rises above an average Twilight Zone episode.

As for the performances, Carmen Ejogo, who plays Karolina, is perfectly fine. Based on previous roles, however, Ejogo is capable of much more. It’s a somewhat flat performance that never fully convinces that she’s a mother fighting for her daughter’s life. Sons of Anarchy alum Theo Rossi also turns up in a small role. Fans of the FX outlaw biker series know what Rossi is capable of when given a meaty role. In Rattlesnake, Rossi doesn’t get the screen time to make much of an impression. He’s more or less in the movie to satisfy a plot point.

Rattlesnake Another Mediocre Netflix Thriller

Neither offensively bad nor captivatingly chilling, Rattlesnake straddles the fence of mediocrity. To his credit, Hilditch maintains a foreboding atmosphere from start to finish. Rattlesnake has some ‘Stephen King DNA’ in it. Nevertheless, Hilditch’s movie is never really scary in spite of a few brief moments of suspense. Nothing in the movie cashes in on the potential that feels like it’s always just under the surface. What’s left is a movie that doesn’t feel all that different from an 80’s or 90’s ‘made-for-television’ thriller.

THE PROFESSOR’S FINAL GRADE: B-

Trick r’ Treat: Horror Anthology a Halloween Tradition

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Horror anthology movie, Trick r’ Treat has an interesting history. Today, horror fans regard it as a ‘must-see’ classic. In line with this view, Shout! Factory put out a Collector’s Edition Blu-ray last year. And the movie’s writer and director, Michael Dougherty impressed enough to land Godzilla King of the Monsters earlier this year. But Trick r’ Treat never saw a wide theatrical release. In fact, promising trailers were followed by a whole lot of nothing. Though Warner Bros Pictures screened the Halloween chiller at a handful of film festivals, Trick r’ Treat eventually feel off horror fans’ radars. Then the studio finally released Dougherty’s movie directly to home video. Following its release, horror fans quickly discovered

Trick r’ Treat Plays with the Horror Anthology Format

Over the years, horror anthology movies have cycled in and out of popularity. British studio and Hammer Films rival, Amicus Productions, produced several classic horror anthologies over the 1960’s and 1970’s, including Dr Terror’s House of Horror’s and The House That Dripped Blood. Flash-forward to the 1980’s, George A Romero and Stephen King teamed up to re-invigorate the anthology with the Creepshow movies. More recently, the V/H/S series and Ghost Stories have reminded horror fans how much fun the anthology format can be when done right. All of these movies roughly follow the same format. Generally, three or four stand-alone stories are connected through a wrap-around story that opens and closes the movie.

It’s also a movie about Halloween’s various legends and rules. Thus, Dougherty uses these ‘rules’ and his movie’s mascot, and central antagonist’, the burlap-sack wearing ‘Sam’ as a common thread.

In contrast to this general formula, Dougherty eschews a traditional wrap-around segment. Instead, Dougherty weaves his stories seamlessly together using a couple of techniques. First, Trick r’ Treat is more than just a movie set on Halloween. It’s also a movie about Halloween’s various legends and rules. Thus, Dougherty uses these ‘rules’ and his movie’s mascot, and central antagonist’, the burlap-sack wearing ‘Sam’ as a common thread. Second, Dougherty interconnects his characters and stories, even if it’s just in small ways. Trick r’ Treat’s characters inhabit the same town and interact, even if just briefly, with everyone connected by Halloween lore. As a result, the anthology movie avoids one of the format’s glaring problems – inconsistency among stories. All of Trick r’ Treat’s stories are connected by Halloween and Sam, with no one segment dragging things down.

Dougherty Effectively Mixes Traditional and Bloody Scares

Trick r’ Treat has its cake and eats it, too. On the one hand, Dougherty’s anthology movie feels unabashedly old-fashioned. It’s stories of school bus massacre victims rising to take vengeance or anti-holiday curmudgeons getting their just desserts wouldn’t feel out of place in an Amicus Productions’ movie. Even the movie’s ‘Red Riding Hood’ story initially feels like something that might have been made in the 1980’s. An old-school focus on suspense and jump scares accompanies these familiar narrative beats. Like classic horror anthology movies, Trick r’ Treat feels like a fairy tale warning us about the sacred nature of Halloween’s traditions.

Whether it’s the school principal poisoning trick-or-treating students or ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ turning the tables on her ‘Big Bad Wolf’, Trick r’ Treat is never a dour or dark viewing experience.

Yet Dougherty combines these old-fashioned approaches to scares with contemporary blood and gore wholly in keeping with the decade in which it was released. And the tone is set quickly with the movie’s opening, grisly discovery. From that point onward, Dougherty treats us to severed heads in place of jack-o’lanterns, grotesque injuries, and werewolf-feeding frenzy. Among the movie’s highlights, Sam’s use of bitten-into lollipop as a stabbing tool is absurdist fun. All of this Halloween carnage is served with heaping amounts of dark humour. Clearly, Dougherty has a sense of humour. Whether it’s the school principal poisoning trick-or-treating students or ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ turning the tables on her ‘Big Bad Wolf’, Trick r’ Treat is never a dour or dark viewing experience.

Stellar Cast a Sweet Addition to Horror Anthology

In addition to its excellent production values and snappy story-telling, Trick r’ Treat featured an impressive cast for movie that was shelved. Veteran character actors Dylan Baker and Brian Cox are clearly having fun in their respective roles. In particular, Baker revels in playing against his ‘nice guy’ image. And Cox gets to riff a little on the ‘no nonsense’ persona that has embodied many of his roles. Fresh off her success in the X-Men movies, Anna Paquin would get her feet wet in the horror genre before moving on to the HBO’s True Blood and a fun Scream 4 cameo.

But it’s Trick r’ Treat’s ‘Sam’ who steals the movie. While he hasn’t quite reached the same heights as other horror villains, the character has become increasingly weaved into Halloween popular culture. The character has a unique appearance that lends itself to seasonal decorating. If Dougherty’s horror anthology has a weakness, it’s the brief moment where too much of Sam is revealed. Budgetary limitations – or just design issues – undermine the mask unveiling. Arguably, the character works much better with the burlap sack and as little explanation as possible.

Trick r’ Treat a Halloween Classic

Despite Warner Bros Pictures dumping it straight to video, Trick r’ Treat is a Halloween classic. And horror fans know it. Dougherty’s horror anthology lovingly mixes traditional horror, contemporary gore, and a little Halloween legend. Simply put, Trick r’ Treat is everything you want out of a horror movie. It’s equal parts clever, scary, suspenseful, bloody, and fun. After a decade, Trick r’ Treat belongs with horror classics like Halloween, Night of the Living Dead, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as required October viewing. Now can we just get that sequel we were promised.

AHS 1984 ‘Red Dawn’ – Camp Redwood is Closed Until Further Notice

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With a smaller pool of potential victims and a growing number of killers, AHS 1984 has been a busy season. At Episode Four’s conclusion, the surviving counsellors watched as their escape from Camp Redwood burned. None of the counsellors are the slightest bit aware the danger their boss, Margaret, poses. Don’t forget, Donna (or fake Nurse Rita) also watched as supernatural forces resurrected The Night Stalker. And an injured Mr Jingles is still wandering around the camp.

No One Here Gets Out Alive

Things kick off with a Donna Chambers‘ flashback. She’s following her father, who she believes is having an affair. And her suspicions seem to be confirmed when she sees ‘Daddy’ come home with a young woman. But when she tries to confront her father, she finds the poor girl tied to a bed. As it turns out, ‘Daddy’ was a serial killer himself, hence Donna’s later fascination with the subject-matter. Ashamed at his daughter’s discovery, ‘Daddy’ stabs himself in the neck.

…Margaret repays the favour by gutting Xavier.

Meanwhile, in the present time, Xavier has a meltdown when he realizes there’s no getting out of Camp Redwood. Margaret knocks him unconscious, and then spends the rest of the episode dividing the survivors up. First, she tricks Chet into trying to cross the lake in a canoe where she brutally beats him with an oar before letting him drown. When a vengeful Mr Jingles later confronts her, Xavier comes to her rescue, shooting Jingles with several arrows. In turn, Margaret repays the favour by gutting Xavier. As Mr Jingles is dying, The Night Stalker shows up, offering him immortality in return for his pledge to Satan.

Brooke’s Bad Day Gets Worse

Poor Brooke. Her bad day at Camp Redwood just keeps getting worse. She’s able to initially avoid Montana’s wrath when she spots and follows a confused, and very dead, Ray. After some bonding, Brooke loses her virginity to Ray before they both realize he’s actually a ghost. They make that discovery after finding Ray’s head in the refrigerator. A confused and terrified Brooke runs back to find Montana, who finally looks to take her revenge. Everything ends with Brooke stabbing Montana to death in front the newly arrived campers.

Call it a demented serial killer road trip.

So Red Dawn appears to put an end to Camp Redwood’s bloody night. The police arrest Brooke who’s fingered as the murderer by the surviving Margaret. Poor Ray tries to leave the campgrounds in an ambulance, but quickly learns that he’s now stuck there forever in some kind of purgatory. Not surprisingly, Montana acclimates quickly to her new state, killing a police officer. And The Night Stalker and Mr Jingles drive off together in a stolen police car on their way to Los Angeles. Call it a demented serial killer road trip.

Red Dawn Takes Season 9 Down a Wide-Open Road

With so much going on, Red Dawn is light on revelations but heavy on action and dark, morbid humour. Whether it’s Brooke having sex with Ray’s ghost or a bus load of young campers screaming in terror at the sight of her covered in blood, Red Dawn has a perversely fun sense of humour. Murphy and company also continue to make the most out of the slasher genre’s myriad opportunities for horrific death scenes. As good as Emma Roberts and Billie Lourd are in their respective roles (and they’re very good), Gus Kenworthy continues to steal the show as Xavier. Some of the show’s best dialogue has gone to Kenworthy, and he’s made the most of it.

…Gus Kenworthy continues to steal the show as Xavier.

Clearly, at this point, AHS 1984 is intended as more of a satire than straight-forward slasher homage. Murphy and company have emphasized the sub-genre’s more absurd elements alongside the decade which produced it. Like past seasons, AHS 1984 has also detoured from its expected storyline with just a handful of episodes remaining. How this season ultimately ranks overall will depend on how its now wide-open story plays out. Most of the cast is dead and trapped at Camp Redwood. In all likelihood, Brooke will be put on trial for the latest massacre. And three killers – Jingles, The Night Stalker, and Margaret – are still on the loose. Now Season 9 finds itself at a fork in the road. Free of the sub-genre’s AHS 1984 may be able to truly shock and surprise. Or the series could give in to its worts tendencies and go off the the rails.

Trick: A Slasher Reminder To Always Go With Treat

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Did you really like Trick ‘r Treat? Guess what? This isn’t that long-rumoured sequel to the fantastic 2007 horror anthology. No, Trick is an original movie, out just in time for Halloween. Frequent collaborators Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer have re-assembled to deliver a neo-slasher movie for the holiday season. With lofty ambitions of becoming the next horror franchise, Trick promises an intriguing killer and set-up alongside plenty of slashing. Apparently, Trick missed out on a theatrical release, and critics have been less than kind. So does Trick have any treats for horror fans?

Synopsis

At a high school Halloween party, quiet and innocuous student Patrick ‘Trick’ Stewart’ goes on an inexplicable killing rampage. Despite his peers subduing him, Trick somehow breaks free at the hospital. Detective Mike Denver and Sheriff Lisa Jayne shoot Trick multiple times, sending him falling two stories from a hospital window. Though he should be dead, Trick’s body disappears. Now, every Halloween, Trick seemingly returns to continue his killing spree. With another Halloween approaching again, the obsessed Detective Denver is determined to stop a killer that may no longer be human.

Trick an Illogical, But Fast-Paced, Mess

Once upon a time, director Patrick Lussier looked like an heir apparent in the horror genre. After years of editing some high-profile horror movies (Scream,Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, Mimic, Halloween: H20) scored a hit with his My Bloody Valentine remake. Then Lussier and, and frequent collaborator Todd Farmer, made the strange, but admittedly fun, Drive Angry. And then …. not much. Maybe Lussier’s contribution to the Terminator: Genisys screenplay railroaded his film-making career. Whatever the explanation, Trick represents a big step down for Lussier and Farmer. No, it’s not just the much lower budget. Both My Bloody Valentine and Drive Angry were over-the-top exercises in excess. But Trick asks too much from its audience.

Unfortunately, it’s a set-up that’s abruptly set aside to make room for scene after scene of blood and carnage.

Horror movies require a certain suspension of disbelief. An illogical mess of storytelling, Trick demands a total shutdown of common sense. There’s an interesting premise introduced early in the movie. Though it’s not necessarily original, Lussier and Farmer’s idea of an innocuous killer with no motive, no past sets up a potentially intriguing twist on the slasher. Unfortunately, it’s a set-up that’s abruptly set aside to make room for scene after scene of blood and carnage. Trick becomes an omnipresent antagonist who conveniently shows up to speed up the storytelling. As a result, Trick reduces some characters to generic stereotypes, like the ‘no-nonsense detective’, while failing to develop other characters at all. One character’s backstory feels so tacked on that you may need to rewind the movie to see if you missed a scene. And the less said about the movie’s unearned twist, the better.

Hey, At Least It’s Not Boring

With little adherence to any sort of story-telling logic, Trick is free to unleash almost non-stop slasher madness. If there’s anything good to say about Trick, it’s that the movie at least knows it can’t be boring. Lussier treats us to scene after scene of knife-slashing and stabbing bloodletting. Occasionally, Trick switches things up, and delivers a Saw-inspired deathtrap. Yet if the Saw series strained plausibility, Trick operates in a world where the law of physics don’t apply. Nonetheless, these scenes provide some slasher fun and the closest thing to suspense in the movie.

… Trick becomes repetitive pretty quickly. It’s mostly a lot of frenzied knife attacks that lack much in the way of set-up or inventiveness.

Though Trick delivers a lot violent action, slasher fan expectations may be under-served. Trick does a lot of slashing, and Lussier includes a lot of exaggerated, gross sound effects. In the movie’s opening scenes, there’s even plenty of blood spilled. Arguably, Trick’s opening is its best moment. Yet slasher films aren’t just defined by blood-letting; there’s also an expectation of elaborate death scenes. In this regard, Trick becomes repetitive pretty quickly. It’s mostly a lot of frenzied knife attacks that lack much in the way of set-up or inventiveness. But if you’re just looking for a body count, Trick delivers on that front.

Trick Suffers From Some Poor Film-Making

If there’s anything truly surprising about Trick, it’s the movie’s occasionally shoddy film-making. Lussier’s previous horror movies, including Dracula 2000, were slick affairs. Maybe budgetary constraints hampered some of the movie’s production. Whatever the issues, Lussier can’t seem to steady the camera for many of the movie’s action scenes. Though a couple of the death scenes are impressive, Trick’s action is often clumsily staged with poor editing. A screenplay laden with leaden dialogue doesn’t help much, either.

Whatever the issues, Lussier can’t seem to steady the camera for many of the movie’s action scenes

Even with some the recognizable names in the cast, the acting is a little underwhelming. Former House star, Omar Epps is stuck playing the all-too-familiar ‘obsessed, no-nonsense’ detective. Though he’s certainly good in the role, Epps periodically looks like he wishes he was in a different movie. Horror veterans Tom Atkins (Night of the Creeps) and Jamie Kennedy (Scream) are on hand as well. It’s a nice tip of the hat to what’s come before in the genre. But their roles don’t amount to much more than genre lip service. In particular, Trick really wastes Kennedy in what’s really an extended cameo. As for the younger cast, they deliver some of the movie’s stiffer performance. In addition, one actor looks about 20 years too old to be playing a high school student.

Trick Reminds Us Why You Always Go With Treat

Clearly, Lussier and Farmer had ambitions for Trick becoming the next October horror tradition. Trick’s wide open ending all but begs for a sequel. Too bad Lussier and Farmer didn’t do enough to justify a follow-up with the 90 minutes or so they had in this movie. What’s really unfortunate is that there is an intriguing idea buried somewhere in the movie’s senseless twist. However, the idea is just tossed out, never even superficially explored. Not surprisingly, Wes Craven gave a similar theme a much better go in Scream 4. Ultimately, Trick is an almost nonsensical slasher that offers too few treat for horror fans.

THE PROFESSOR’S FINAL GRADE: C

**SPOILERS**

Trick’s big twist – Patrick ‘Trick’ Weaver is not a supernatural entity. Though he survived being shot and falling two stories, he’s bound to a wheelchair. How is he able to be everywhere then? There’s more than one ‘Trick’. Several minor characters, including one of the cops and a bartender who shows up in a throwaway scene, are all ‘Trick’. And the mastermind behind everything – Jamie Kennedy’s Dr Steven. Trick ends like a lame duck The Usual Suspects with Kennedy climbing into a car with the surviving ‘Tricks’, promising to recruit more killers. Oh, and Omar Epps’ Detective Denver survives despite being stabbed in the chest a dozen times.

AMI: SIRI Clone Serves Up Bloody Revenge

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If enough people are afraid of something, chances are there’s a horror movie about it. Don’t like clowns. Well, there’s plenty of low-budget killer clown movies to accompany Pennywise the Clown (It, It Chapter 2). Apparently, technology is a lot scarier for some people than figuring out the TV remote. From killer VHS tapes and video games to online chatrooms and social media, techno-horror is a firmly established sub-genre. Now as Artificial Intelligence (AI) increasingly finds its way into daily life, horror has a new ‘Boogeyman’ (Tau). Even Elon Musk has warned us about the dangers of AI. Arriving just in time for Halloween, Netflix’s latest release, AMI, offers a look into what would happen if SIRI went rogue.

Synopsis

After her mother dies in a tragic car accident, high school student Cassie finds herself lost in aimless and exploitative relationships. An absent father, a backstabbing friend, and a cheating boyfriend – Cassie is alone. But then she downloads a new smartphone personal assistant, A.M.I. When she customizes AMI to sound like her mother, the app quickly fills a void in Cassie’s life.

AMI a Tonally Offbeat Horror Movie

For much of AMI’s runtime, it’s hard to tell just what kind of movie you’re watching. Director Rusty Nixon sets things in motion rather abruptly. Specifically, the movie’s pacing isn’t so much quick as it is jarring. At times, it feels like things are happening without much justification. And tonally, AMI is an odd movie. Neither scary nor gory for its first two-thirds or so, it’s hard to tell what effect Nixon intended. Occasionally, AMI veers into the territory of other forgettable Netflix thrillers (see Twinsanity or Bad Match). Some viewers may be tempted to jump ship before things wrap up.

Neither scary nor gory for its first two-thirds or so, it’s hard to tell what effect Nixon intended.

However, by the movie’s final act, AMI seems to settle into dark humour territory. In fact, audiences may better appreciate AMI if they buy it as an intentional attempt at sardonic commentary. Nixon, who co-wrote the screenplay along with James Clayton and Evan Taylor, has a pretty clear message. That is, AMI is a dire warning about our obsession – our co-dependent relationship – with our smartphones. That tonal inconsistency and a clunky story initially make it hard to buy that a virtual personal assistant could turn someone into a killer. But by the time Cassie’s boyfriend, Liam, is personalizing his AMI to bark orders at him like his abusive footballl coach, the joke becomes a little more obvious. Once AMI settles on a tone, it’s final act and ending feel like a big improvement.

Slaves to Our Own Technology

How attached have we become to our phones? For a self-obsessed culture, there’s no doubt our smartphones have taken on a more and more important role in our lives. Psychologists have warning us about the dangers of screen for years now. Of course, AMI takes things to an extreme. While last year’s Upgrade looked at AI literally controlling us, AMI takes a different approach. Instead, the Canadian thriller looks at how its virtual personal assistant fills a void in people’s lives. For Cassie, AMI fills the emptiness left by her mother’s death. Conversely, Liam uses his AMI to pass the time left when he can no longer play football.

It’s an ambitious concept for a lower budget thriller. And we’ve certainly filled our lives with Facebook and Instagram. A lot of family dinners are probably spent staring blankly into a screen. Despite its lofty story-telling goals, however, AMI doesn’t necessarily nail the premise. Underwritten characters and lots of illogical jumps in the story leave the idea feeling half-baked. By the time AMI embraces its own premise, things have slid into slasher movie territory.

Broad Characters and Inconsistent Performances

If AMI wanted to be a dark horror-comedy, the performances may not be broad enough. On the other hand, if Nixon intended to make a full-fledged horror movie, the performance are too over-the-top. In fairness to the actors, several characters are just so underwritten that their role in the movie is muddled. At times, I wondered if the editors cut scenes with Cassie’s dad (Philip Granger). He’s in and out of the story so much, that his appearances feel awkward. And duplicitous friend, Sarah (Veronica Hampson) backstabs Cassie so abruptly that it requires a heavy does of expository dialogue.

As Cassie, Debs Howard gives an inconsistent performance that feels forced at times. In particular, Howard struggles to convince as an unhinged killer by the movie’s conclusion. Though AMI saddles him with the broadest role in boyfriend, Liam, Sam Robert Mulk acquits himself better than his co-stars. It’s a role that requires some heavy mugging, and Mulk happily obliges.

AMI Probably Needed a Software Update

With a climax that probably saved the movie from being a total time-waster, AMI struggles to find the right tone. Even if you give the Canadian thriller the benefit of the doubt, AMI isn’t nearly clever enough to pass as good satirical horror. Choppy pacing, underwritten characters, and inconsistent performances don’t help. Someday AI may pull a Skynet and enslave all of humanity. But for now we probably don’t have to worry about SIRI too much.

THE PROFESSOR’S FINAL GRADE: C