Category Archives: Movies

The Cloverfield Paradox Debuts Tonight on Netflix

05 Monday Feb 2018

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The Cloverfield Paradox Debuts Tonight on Netflix

Who cares about the Super Bowl when J.J. Abrams’ 3rd installment in the Cloverfield franchise debuts on Netflix tonight? Only those who are counting down the final minutes of the game to switch over to Netflix and catch the highly anticipated movie. The Cloverfield Paradox streams 2 ½ months before the theatrical release date. It will reportedly tie the prior two films, Cloverfield and Cloverfield Lane, together. Stay tuned for a review. Until then: Who’s winning?

In the meantime, view the trailer here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2548396/videoplayer/vi3973560345?ref_=tt_pv_vi_aiv_1.

10 Facts about Sarah Winchester & The Winchester Mystery House

02 Friday Feb 2018

Posted by in Haunted Houses, Hauntings, Historic Places, Movies, Uncategorized

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10 Facts about Sarah Winchester & The Winchester Mystery House

Dame Helen Mirren’s Winchester (2018) opens nationwide today. The film is a pseudo-bio pic focusing on the eccentric firearms heiress who was supposedly haunted by the ghosts of those killed by the Winchester Repeating Arms. It’s more Hollywood fiction than truth. However, movie-goers love a good ghost story. Here are 10 facts about Sarah Winchester and her labyrinth of a house.

  1. Sarah Lockwood Pardee Winchester was widowed in 1881 when her husband William Wirt Winchester died at age 43. She inherited $20 million dollars and relocated to present-day San Jose, California.
  2. Sarah was petite at 4’10” and suffered from arthritis. She was incredibly private, and few photographs of her exist. SarahWinchester
  3. Sarah converted the 8-room farmhouse into a Queen Anne Revival house with 160 rooms. The house was constantly remodeled for 30 plus years, until Sarah’s death in 1922.
  4. The house sustained extensive damage from the 1906 earthquake. Sarah was inside the house in the Daisy Bedroom at the time of the earthquake and was trapped for several hours.
  5. The house boasts over 10,000 panes of glass, letting in a lot of natural light.
  6. The number 13 is repeated in design features.
  7. Sarah was probably a Spiritualist. She was not haunted by the ghosts of those who fell victim to her husband’s rifles. She was in perpetual mourning for her only daughter who lived less than two months and her husband. Early biographers think she felt closer to her husband by adding onto the house because he was an architectural enthusiast.
  8. The urban legend that she continually built onto the house originated long after her death and was popularized by psychic Susy Smith in her 1967 book, Prominent American Ghosts.
  9. More than 12 million people have visited the house. Tours have been updated and new rooms and crawlspaces have been added for repeat visitors.
  10. The movie company purchased the photography rights; however, most of the movie was filmed in Australia. Sound stages were used since the rooms, stairways, and crawlspaces were too small for filming. Winchester

Insidious 4: The Last Key Opens in US

07 Sunday Jan 2018

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Insidious 4: The Last Key

Chapter 4 in the popular Insidious franchise opened a month earlier than expected this past weekend. Still, there was plenty of time for movie critics to review and to thoroughly trash the film. Filmed on a meager $10 million-dollar budget (considering the entire franchise has brought in over $378 million), the film takes parapsychologist Dr. Elise Rainier back to her former home to investigate strange phenomena. The film is expected to pull in $26 million in the US and land in 2nd place behind Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. From the reviews I’ve read, I’ll wait for the film to stream.

The first Insidious (2010) made $97 million worldwide. This was a huge margin of profit considering the estimated budget was a paltry $1.5 million. The initial film was the strongest and best; however, Chapters 2 and 3 grossed more. The production company rubber-stamped a Chapter 4 and seems fine with the lackluster film. [Note: The films should be viewed in their story order which is 3, 4, 1, and 2.]

Insidious

The Guardian gave Chapter 4 2 stars. Jordan Hoffman likens Elise’s sidekicks Specs (played by screenwriter Leigh Whannell) and Tucker (played by Angus Sampson) to the Scooby-Doo gang with their Mystery Machine van. Hoffman bluntly states that the film “squanders its opportunities to get interesting.”

Although NPR’s Scott Tobias enjoyed the interplay between Lin Shaye’s Elise with Specs and Tucker, he tired when the film enters the predictable “The Further.”

RogerEbert.Com’s Simon Abrams warns viewers to bring a friend. He writes that the films really are improving but some viewers may miss the subtlety. He writes: “This one is almost good.”

Insidious: The Last Key’s release date was moved up in anticipation for February’s highly anticipated Winchester starring Helen Mirren as the haunted heiress to the Winchester gun fortune and the Irish film The Lodgers which has garnered solid reviews. If you’re a monthly moviegoer, see all three; however, if you must select one, choose The Lodgers.

#9: The Arrival (2016)

03 Friday Nov 2017

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#9: The Arrival (2016)

The Arrival blew me away. Although this film is strictly science fiction and not a horror film, it made it onto my viewing list because I wanted to watch something with more substance. Many science fiction movies transcend into the horror genre. So I took a chance this one might. It didn’t. The Arrival is a science fiction/drama but worth watching!

#8: Black Butterfly (2017)

29 Sunday Oct 2017

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#8: Black Butterfly (2017)

Not another Misery in the woods film, Black Butterfly is a fantastic rainy day film that’s long on thrills and less on blood and gore.

A successful, though aging, Spanish writer (Antonio Banderas) is convinced to move to the US to ramp up his career. He finds himself living in the backwoods of a town with an abundance of mysterious disappearances. Searching for inspiration, Paul invites a hitchhiker, played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, to stay awhile.

Based on the French film Papillon Noir (2008), Black Butterfly was filmed entirely in Italy. This thriller runs an hour and 33 minutes and is rated R for violent content. Black Butterfly is surprisingly good.

#6: Residue (2017)

23 Monday Oct 2017

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#6: Residue (2017)

The pickings are slim with my informal “rules” for selecting the 10 new horror movies I’m watching this month. First and foremost, the movies have to be available through my Roku on the three services I subscribe to: Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix. I usually view movies multiple times in order to review. Usually. If I don’t like the movie, I either stop watching (i.e., Hell House LLC) or don’t re-watch (i.e., Oculus). I also want to watch the film as the director intended; therefore, I don’t review movies playing on cable. I may watch a movie on cable and then re-watch it on a streaming service to write the review. Thus far I have been able to avoid renting movies, but that changes with #10. Needless to say, my goal was to experience predominantly low-budget horror movies that suffered from small PR budgets. My hope was to share some of the gems I uncovered.

Tonight’s offering introduced me to the horror-noir sub-genre. The horror-noir film is atmospheric and includes a private investigator. Residue (2017) fits the bill.

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Luke Hardy (played by James Clayton) is a down-on-his-luck P.I. who takes possession of an evil book from a distant land. The enchanted book places him and his daughter, who conveniently needs a place to crash, in danger. Writer/director Rusty Nixon adds enough technological nuances to alert the reader that this is a futuristic film, as well.

Devoid of bloated budgets and overused CGI effects, the film relies on dialogue and acting—you know, elements of the craft. Nixon does well.

The film had a Sin City feel with the editing and intrigue. Make no mistake. This film is not based on a comic series; it merely feels like it does.

Nixon paced the movie well. The actors, especially the supporting ones, excelled. It’s more of a time-travel story with aspects of horror instead of a true slasher pic. Still, it’s worth viewing. It will round out the horror offerings.

The movie runs 82 minutes long and is not rated since it was distributed as a VOD (video on demand).

#5: Saw (2004)

23 Monday Oct 2017

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#5: Saw (2004)

I have a confession. I’ve never seen the Saw franchise movies. Not one. I’m a huge fan of James Wan and Leigh Whannell. Enjoyed all of the Insidious films. Yet, Saw (2004) came at a time when I wasn’t watching many horror movies. All has changed. Saw wasn’t anything I presumed and everything I crave in a horror movie.

Lots of people have benefitted from attending film school. However, James Wan and Leigh Whannell are the exception. They met and formed a friendship that has transformed the horror movie industry. And it began with a short film titled Saw.

LeighWhannell

Whannell penned a riveting full-length feature horror film based off of the short. Two men (Cary Elwes and Leigh Whannell) awaken in an abandoned building. These seemingly strangers backfill their stories to show how intertwined their lives truly are. But the audience is focused on the handsaws. As with Whannell’s characters in Insidious, the characters are fully visualized and haunting. The ending sets up the sequel—one I look forward to viewing.

Saw is a certified blockbuster. Filmed on a shoestring budget of $1.2 million, it earned over $103 million worldwide. If the storyline didn’t warrant a sequel, the ticket sales certainly did. Six films later and audiences still watch as the body counts increase.

Saw is rated R for grisly violence and language and runs one hour and 43 minutes.

#4: The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2015)

22 Sunday Oct 2017

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#4: The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2015)

Sometimes it’s all in the timing. The Blackcoat’s Daughter debuted March 31, 2017, two years after production ended. Oz (Osgood) Perkins wrote and directed this independent full-length feature film. Originally titled February, this movie is another exorcism, low-budget film worth viewing.

The all-female lead actors save this incredibly slow movie. Two boarding school girls are left at the school over the break. Not friends (played by Kiernan Shipka and Lucy Boynton), they battle their own evil. Enter Emma Roberts. She’s a drifter heading toward the Catholic prep school. The movie unfolds, or rather unfolding backwards. Multiple viewings are encouraged.

Film critics enjoyed the film. The Washington Post’s Michael O’Sullivan sums it up: “Although very little happens in the way of traditional horror-movie jump-scares, Blackcoat builds and builds toward a profoundly disquieting sense that something really bad is coming.”

If there was a genre of arthouse horror movies, this film would be the shining example. Rated R for bloody violence, the movie runs an hour and 33 minutes.

#3: I am the Pretty Thing that Lives in the House (2016)

18 Wednesday Oct 2017

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#3: I am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016)

This art house thriller isn’t for everyone. It’s not truly a horror story but more of a ghost/mystery film. Variety called it “minimalistic.” That it is. What it’s not is mainstream enough for the average viewer. This movie requires dedication and a couple of viewings to understand. But don’t let that dissuade you from viewing.

Lily, a young live-in nurse, is hired to take care of an elderly housebound bestselling mystery writer. The woman is old, possibly senile, and confuses Lily with her most popular character, Polly. Lily reluctantly reads the book discovering Polly’s secret.

The cast is solid. Writer/director Osgood “Oz” Perkins did well in casting Wilson, Paula Prentiss, and Lucy Boynton. Fans of Wes Anderson will recognize Bob Balaban (The Grand Budapest Hotel and Moonrise Kingdom).

My only issue is the title. Long titles are tongue twisters. Although for British actress Ruth Wilson (Luther) it rolls off her tongue. But it’s a difficult title to sell.

Variety nails it. The set is simple. The colors crisp white against black. The house is sterile, devoid of props. The house has a Massachusetts witch-trial feel. I’m sure it was intentional.

This Netflix original is streaming this month. Go in knowing that it’s a ghost story without jump scares and that the story-line slowly unfolds, and you may end up watching this one again.