Horror Movie Talk

10 Cloverfield Lane is a reminder that horror doesn’t have to be stilted and boring with a total lack of good acting. Sometimes it can feel like a tremendous whodunit, that has layer upon layer of intrigue and terror. On today’s episode we are joined by Kate from Nightlight Horror Movie Club Podcast. She’s a delightful person and runs my favorite horror movie podcast, so check them out! @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. https://youtu.be/saHzng8fxLs Synopsis Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is the victim of a car accident, and wakes up to find herself stuck like a prisoner in a bomb shelter. Henry (John Goodman) says he saved Michelle from the accident and explains that some kind of global nuclear event has occurred, forcing them to take shelter in his bomb shelter. Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.), is also in the shelter and soon explains that he helped Henry build it.  The shelter is almost as impressive as Henry’s temper and paranoia. In the end everyone gets more John Goodman than they bargained for. Review 10 Cloverfield Lane is a freshman masterpiece for director Dan Trachtenberg, who has only this film to his name but has started production on the new Predator movie. https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/09/19/the-predator-review/ We follow Michelle’s point of view and are given a glimpse into what it would be like to live through a global disaster of epic magnitudes.  The script unfolds in layers of mystery and discovery, always leaving the next question around a corner, or outside the doors of the bomb shelter we inhabit with our lonesome trio. Henry is a profoundly interesting character, and is John Goodman makes him come to life the same way Ted Levine and Anthony Hopkins brought Buffalo Bill and Hannibal Lecter to life in The Silence of the Lambs. I love the way the Cloverfield series switches between storytelling mechanics, genres, and scripts. 10 Cloverfield Lane is, by far, the best of the trilogy which includes Cloverfield, 10 Cloverfield Lane, and The Cloverfield Paradox. Watch 10 Cloverfield Lane Watch on Amazon Click here to Buy or Rent The way this movie deals with relationships, the terror of the unknown, and the incredibly thin veneer of society in a way that is so real that you just feel it in your bones.  The problems that arise and the resolutions to them are practical, well thought out, and relatable. Everytime Michelle sees a way out, she sees the dreadful terror of the consequences for her actions, and the audience is right there with her for the ride. I am blown away that 10 Cloverfield Lane didn’t receive any award nominations, especially considering the strength of Goodman’s performance. Score 10/10 Get 30 day free trial, with the code HMT at Shudder.com Get 13% Off your order at NightChannels.com when you use code HMT at checkout.

In honor of pride month, we watched Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, and it brings a whole new meaning to scream queen. Freddy’s back for revenge, and he doesn’t give a fuck if you’re dreaming or not. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. Synopsis A totally straight young man named Jessie, with the scream of Ned Flanders, is haunted by nightmares of a scarred and razor clawed monster-man named Freddy Krueger. He finds out from his gym bro that the house he lives in was once inhabited by a young girl named Nancy driven crazy by the death of her boyfriend across the street. Jess discovers Nancy’s journal while cleaning his room and finds out that she was tormented by the same nightmares. Freddy Krueger in this film isn’t out to kill the protagonist, he seeks to possess his body and carry out his murders in reality https://youtu.be/9iqNVyjwLFA Review of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 This film has a reputation as a huge disappointment to fans of the original, and has a long history of getting shit on. I don’t see the drop in quality as being that big. The reason for the dislike of this film is probably because it strays so far from the premise of the first movie. Freddy’s unique selling point is that he can kill you in your dreams and that sleep is unavoidable. In this film, that is barely touched on. The terror in this film is very personal to the protagonist, as he witnesses Freddy take over his body in harm his friends around him. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge Poster Homosexual Subtext The homoerotic subtext might have been lost on a majority of general audiences in the 80’s. Many of the scenes must have felt random if you didn’t understand that Jessie’s experience was an allegory for being a closetted gay teen. Now 40 years later, it adds a new layer of interest, especially when you view it in the context that it was released right at the beginning of the AIDs epidemic. Special Effects and Acting All of that aside, this movie has some great special effects. The scene with Jessie’s were-Freddy transformation is going to stick in my mind. It’s definitely not as tight as the original. At some points it looks like Freddy runs out of ideas of how to supernaturally and psychologically torture his victims, and just resorts to chasing them around. The acting ranges from kind of bad to very good. Mark Patton does a really convincing job at conveying his torment and his performance keeps getting better and better throughout the film. I think it deserves more love. It’s not fantastic, but is a very good followup to the first film in my opinion. Score 7/10 Get The Whole Collection Buy Nightmare on Elm Street 1-7 on Blu-ray Buy Now Get 13% Off your order at NightChannels.com when you use code HMT at checkout.

What a great time we had bashing this train wreck of a Zack Snyder movie. We go on and on with this one, head on over to our patreon and consider supporting us to gain access to the full review!

We watched House of Wax starring Elisha Cuthbert, Paris Hilton, and Robert Ri’chard (from Cousin Skeeter) and were treated to a fairly decent bit of gore porn. This was a patreon pick, so if you ever get the idea to recommend we review a movie, head over to our patreon and see all the goodies we offer to our most loyal of fans! We had Max from Screaming Cinema Podcast on this episode! @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. https://youtu.be/Q-Akt68SGfE Synopsis House of Wax is based on a pretty simple premise and is a loose remake of the 1953 film of the same name. A group of fun-loving but angsty teens find themselves stranded in the woods near a strange, small community which seems to center itself around a wax museum. As the teens split up and try to find help in this sleepy community everyone seems to realize that the inhabitants aren’t as lively as they once thought In the end, everyone gets more wax than they bargained for. Review House of Wax is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra who also directed Orphan, The Shallows, and is in the middle of directing the upcoming Black Adam movie starring  Dwayne Johnson.  House of Wax was his directorial debut and is pretty good, all things considered. This effort is clearly inspired by early 2000’s exploitation gore/slashers like Saw and Wrong Turn. Throwing Paris Hilton into the mix gave this movie a huge amount of momentum at the time because just like candle wax – “that’s hot”. Unfortunately, House of Wax has a seemingly unlimited supply of rope to hang itself with. There is a tremendous amount of extraneous details that force us to wade through this 113 minute slog with no real rhyme or reason behind their inclusion. Watch House of Wax (2005) Watch on Amazon Click here to Buy or Rent Backstory and character development that doesn’t seem to matter. Character inclusion that is wholly unnecessary. Even chase sequences that are out of nowhere. If the movie were a bit tighter I would be impressed with it, especially after considering the ending payout, which is impressive to say the least.  Ultimately, House of Wax was a decently fun movie that shot itself in the foot with the inclusion of a ton of extraneous content. Even so, the ending makes it worth the wait. Score 6/10 Get 30 day free trial, with the code HMT at Shudder.com Get 13% Off your order at NightChannels.com when you use code HMT at checkout.

We had a TON of fun reviewing one of the most meta horror movies ever made, Cabin in the Woods, by director Drew Goddard! This was a total blast. If you would like to hear the full review, it will only be available on our Patreon at the “We all Spoop for Ice Spoop” tier. All proceeds go to making the show better and growing into a podcast that can support our families, so do consider this as us begging!

The Conjuring The Devil Made Me Do It, or as I call it “TCTDMMDI” is the 8th movie in the Conjuring Cinematic Universe, or as I call it “The CCU”, and the second direct sequel to the original The Conjuring, and the 5th film in the series since anyone gave a fuck. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It Featured Artwork by Dustin Goebel. Follow him on Instagram @dgoebel00 https://youtu.be/h9Q4zZS2v1k Synopsis In this entry, Ed and Lorraine Warren are performing an exorcism on the young David Glatzel boy (Julian Hilliard), when oops, the demon is transferred over to Arne Cheyenne Johnson (Ruairi O’Connor) after he invites the demon to possess him instead. Everyone goes about their business like that didn’t just happen, and then Arne commits homicide, because, you guessed it, the devil made him do it. The Warrens rush to investigate the evil origins of the possession to convince the rubes on the jury in time to save Arne from the death penalty. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It Poster Review of The Conjuring 3 I’m a little torn on how to review this one. It’s right in line with the other Conjuring Movies, none of which are bad (in the main storyline), but none are particularly great to me. I was relieved to see that it wasn’t all based within one spooky-ookie house, so that was nice.  One of the things that gets annoying after a while is the repetitiveness of the setup of Lorraine being psychic and Ed being worried.  The story is interesting enough. There is enough mystery and revelations over time that kept me engaged.  The special effects and scares were a little lackluster. You’ve seen most of it before. Demon possessed children, evil rickety contortion, rotted corpse ghosts, etc. The new element that was the most interesting, that I wished they explored more of was the Satanic element, specifically playing into the 80’s era satanic panic. It’s a really interesting topic that would have been more interesting if they committed completely to it, rather than just using it as a story device. Surprisingly, the whole premise of legally defending Arne on the basis demonic possession, is barely touched on. If you are expecting a courtroom drama, you will be disappointed. That all being said, the movie as a whole is of a high enough quality to be grouped in with the first two Conjuring movies, which is a welcome relief after The Curse of La Llarona.  Score 7/10 Buy The Whole Conjuring Collection on Blu-Ray or shop Amazon for your missing piece Buy Now Where The Conjuring 3 Disappoints It really is unfortunate that they didn’t pick a lane and either focus on the court case of Arne, or focus on the Satanic Panic elements. While I appreciate that they finally left the haunted houses behind, It would have been nice to see a stronger departure from The Conjuring formula. Support Our Sponsors Get 13% Off your order at NightChannels.com when you use code HMT at checkout.

We went and saw A Quiet Place Part 2 and it was quiet and then VERY loud, and then quiet again. Always loud after quiet. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. https://youtu.be/BpdDN9d9Jio Synopsis A Quiet Place Part 2 picks the story up from exactly where we left off on A Quiet Place (2018) and progresses the story of the Abbott family who have just lost their father, Lee (John Krasinski). The surviving members of the Abbott family consists of Mother Evelyn (Emily Blunt), deaf daughter (Millicent Simmonds), brother Marcus (Noah Jupe), and their little baby have to travel the landscape to find someplace safe to live.  Along the way, they meet their neighbor Emmett (Cillian Murphy) who has recently lost his whole family to the hoards of angry alien librarians. As our rag-tag band of plucky survivors make their way through the apocalyptic landscape, everyone gets more quiet places than they bargained for. Review The first Quiet Place is a hard act to follow just about any way you cut it. Director, writer, star, and Pam-Pam enthusiast John Krasinski nailed it with the original movie in every way that counts. This second installment does an admirable job of trying to follow in very quiet footsteps of the first, but like so many sophomore attempts, doesn’t catch the magic that the first had.  Magic or not, A Quiet Place Part 2 is a stellar monster movie thriller with a ton of action and a tight run time of 97 minutes. I was not bored during the movie, and it provided wonderful argument fodder for after the show.  I can honestly say that I will remember many of the incredibly loud and offensive jumpscares until the day I die.  This is really a movie to see in the grandiosity of a theater not only for the dynamic range of the audio, but because hearing a totally silent theater with many viewers in it is something of a spectacle in and of itself. A Quiet Place Part 2 gave me my money’s worth and then some, and left me wondering how many installments they will be able to squeeze out of this audio-based entertainment.  Watch A Quiet Place (2018) Watch on Amazon Click here to Buy or Rent Score 7/10 Get 30 day free trial, with the code HMT at Shudder.com Get 13% Off your order at NightChannels.com when you use code HMT at checkout.

We watched Train to Busan, and it was a bullet train to fun! @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. Train to Busan Trailer https://youtu.be/pyWuHv2-Abk Train to Busan can be found on Shudder as well as on Tubi and Crackle with ads. Synopsis This synopsis is very easy. While a father takes his and daughter to her mothers house in Busan, a widespread zombie outbreak spills onto their bullet train. Wacky hijinx ensue. More detail? I have a sense there is a reader that wants more detail. The action starts with a reported leak in a biotech building starts spreading a zombie disease that makes zombies. The cynical workaholic protagonist is taking his daughter to Busan on the bullet train when chaos breaks out in the station. There is much confusion, but over time, it’s revealed that some of the infected have made their way onto the Train to Busan. The super aggressive contortionist zombies start taking over the train until only a few small bands of survivors remain. Like most zombie movies, there are many archetypal characters and dramatic relationships that explore all the implications of a zombie outbreak. Good enough? Ok, let’s move on. This is the poster to Train to Busan Review of Train to Busan I’m pretty jaded on zombie films. The variation of content in zombie movies only barely beats out the variation in content found in slashers. It’s a very simple premise. You set some simple human story with the backdrop of the zombie apocalypse. Rinse, repeat. In rare occasions, there are uniquely new interpretations of this genre. This would be one of them. This one takes the runner zombies from 28 days later, and puts them on a train. Honestly in describing it, it sounds much less impressive. But nevertheless, this zombie film feels fresh and brings a new perspective to the same old story. This film really excels at pacing. It’s not long, but zombie movies often feel like an eternity to me. This one kept me engaged throughout. Since Night of the Living Dead, social commentary has been built into pretty much every zombie movie, and this one is no exception. However, it keeps it simple. Should you help people or not. You’ll have to watch the movie to find out which. Watch Train to Busan Watch on Amazon Click here to Buy or Rent Score 9/10 Exciting Filler Did you know that there is a sequel to Train to Busan? No you didn’t. It’s called Peninsula. I don’t know anything about it, but thought I would mention it for SEO purposes. Leave a comment below to let us know if it’s worth watching. Ma Dong-seok, who played the inimitable Sang-hwa in Train to Busan is starring in they upcoming MCU film The Eternals. It’s very exciting. I’m very excited. Let’s look into Ma Dong-seok’s career in film. He is most well know for Train to Busan to American audiences, he also starred in The Neighbors , directed by none other than Hwi Kim. Isn’t that interesting? What else can we talk about? How about our sponsors? Get 20% off and free shipping at Manscaped.com, with the code HMT Get 13% Off your order at NightChannels.com when you use code HMT at checkout.

We watched Spiral in theaters, and if you aren’t familiar, this is the latest chapter in the book of Saw movies and this is exactly what you think it might be after having learned that it’s a Saw movie. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. https://youtu.be/gzy6ORqE9IY Synopsis Spiral is a Saw movie from the perspective of the detectives on the case of the Jigsaw Killer. Chris Rock plays our classic burn-out detective Zeke Banks, who is constantly looking over his shoulder in the police force for having turned in a crooked cop over a decade ago. Max Minghella plays William Schenk, the rookie Dick that gets paired with Zeke to tackle the case of what appears to be a copycat Jigsaw Killer, because at this point in the timeline the original Jigsaw (John Kramer) is dead. The police force seems to have a problem with accountability at best and backstabbing murder at worst, and Zeke doesn’t like it. Zeke’s dad, Marcus (Samuel L. Jackson) is the, now retired police captain who used to manage this department.  This new Jigsaw killer seems to be trying to clean up the force by making ultimatums of crooked cops and detectives, forcing them into twisted games that make them choose between their body parts and life. In the end everyone gets more pig than they bargained for. Review I’m not a big fan of the Saw franchise, but I don’t hate it either, it just doesn’t hold a place in my heart. While Spiral tries to give us a new take on the perspective from which a normal Saw movie is shot, it delivers a very on-brand Saw movie nonetheless.  There are four or five creative gore-porn situations that our characters find themselves in, and an edgy take on what it means to be the good guy or the bad guy in real life. Casting The casting is pretty impressive for a Saw movie, with Rock and Jackson stealing the show as themselves, but I don’t feel like they were utilized as well as they could have been.  Rock had some great moments in Spiral, but they were few and far between. I wish we could have seen more clever takes from one of the most quick witted and interesting comedians of our time, but that didn’t end up happening. Watch the Original Saw Watch on Amazon Click here to Buy or Rent Storyline and Direction The story in Spiral was solid and not overly convoluted. I do feel like the places where I’m not as happy with this movie as I could have been are the directors fault. Darren Lynn Bousman who directed Saw II, Saw III, and Saw IV, chose some shots and deliveries on the editing room floor that I am certain could have been better.  Overall Spiral is a pretty good installment in the franchise, I’m just not the target audience, but I would say that if you hear “Saw” and get excited, this might be your favorite movie of the year. Score 6/10 Get 30 day free trial, with the code HMT at Shudder.com Get 13% Off your order at NightChannels.com when you use code HMT at checkout.

One of the best and most influential family-based haunted house movies. Poltergeist still holds up in terms of story and special effects. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. Poltergeist Trailer https://youtu.be/9eZgEKjYJqA Poltergeist can be found places Synopsis From the director that brought you cannibalistic families in Texas, Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist is the story of the Freeling family being tormented by an unseen force in their totally not built over a cemetery house. Just kidding, it’s obviously Spielberg’s film. The Freelings are an aggressively all american family comprised of the father Steve (Craig T. Nelson), mother Dianne (JoBeth Williams), almost non-existent teenage girl Dana (Dominique Dunne), young boy Robbie (Oliver Robins), and the littlest, and most angelic little girl, Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke). Carol Anne starts talking to the TV, and not the wholesome Blues Clues kind of talking, more of the talking to whispers in the static kind of talking.  Weird occurrences start happening, at first to the delight, and then to the horror of that family when it ramps up and the house steals Carol Anne into the netherworld.  A Haggard Steven Freeling recruits paranormal investigators and the worlds tiniest psychic to get Carol Anne back and Exorcise the demons from their house. Poltergeist Poster Review of Poltergeist I am unapologetic in my love for this movie. It really is a template for family-based haunted house horror. It really has something for everyone. It’s accessible enough to general audiences that don’t want to see gore, or be constantly scared out of their gourd, but it has enough scares and good special effects to satisfy most horror fanatics. On the scale of Ghostbusters to Exorcist, Poltergeist definitely leans more towards Ghostbusters, but it matches the quality of both in my opinion. This is another example of Spielberg being a master storyteller. There is very little fluff in this finely paced film, but there are a constant stream of little vignettes that add character, humor, or realism to the story. Watch Poltergeist Watch on Amazon Click here to Buy or Rent Score 10/10 Get 30 day free trial, with the code HMT at Shudder.com Get 13% Off your order at NightChannels.com when you use code HMT at checkout.