Category Archives: Thriller

31 Days of Horror: We Have a Ghost (2023; PG-13; 126 mins.)

Posted on October 14, 2024 | 1 comment

Billed as a supernatural horror comedy, I thought this would be a fun addition to my 31 Days of Horror. And it was, though I’d say it was more drama than horror, a heartfelt story with fun thrown in and great acting from Jahi Di’Allo Winston as Kevin and David Harbour as Ernest the Ghost, along with Jennifer Coolidge and a for-once-not-annoying appearance by Tig Notaro.

When the Presley family-Frank, Melanie, and teens Fulton and Kevin-discovers a great deal on an enormous old house (does this ever bode well?), they snatch it up and move on in. But when Kevin explores the attic, he’s soon “scared by” a bowling shirt-wearing, middle-aged ghost with a comb over named Ernest (at least, that’s the name on the shirt). Except Kevin laughs instead of screams, leaving Ernest befuddled. The two soon begin to communicate (though Ernest can’t talk), and Kevin tries to help him figure out why he’s stuck in the house and who he really is. But big brother Fulton soon uncovers Kevin’s secret friend, and his video of Ernest goes viral (a montage of various social media reactions is hilarious and incredibly on point). When Frank, who has a history of bad business decisions, decides to try to cash in on the notoriety, it draws the attention of not only the world, but a government paranormal scientist (Notaro) as well.

As Kevin and his neighbor Joy work to help Ernest find his answers, and seemingly the entire world works against them, shenanigans ensue in which Ernest gets to have fun being a classic ghost, doing classic ghost antics. But will they be able to solve the mystery before the government catches Ernest to study him? Will Ernest ever find out who he really is and why he’s stuck here as a ghost? And most of all, will Ernest ever find the lasting peace he wants, or is he doomed to walk through walls for eternity?

  • Top Scare: First Contact
  • Heartbeats: 1 out of 5
  • Gore Factor: 1/2 out of 5
  • Scare Factor: 1 out of 5
  • Recommended for: 12 or 13 and up

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Posted in 31 Days of Horror, Comedy, Entertainment, Halloween, haunting, horror, Horror Movie, Humor, Movies, mystery, Paranormal, Reviews, scary movies, Streaming, Teenagers, Thriller

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31 Days of Horror: Caddo Lake (2024; PG-13; 99 mins.)

Posted on October 11, 2024 | 3 comments

With a name like M. Night Shyamalan attached to this MAX movie, I was eager to dive into the creepy Caddo Lake of Texas for some thrills and chills. With gorgeous cinematography and a mind-bending plot twist, it ended up being a slow-building southern mystery more than the horror feature it could have been, but I still enjoyed it for its eerie vibe.

A community living around and commuting via Caddo Lake is dealing with a drought, making it harder to get around by boat. When a teenager who is fighting with her mother and stepfather boats to a friend’s house to spend the night, her 8-year-old stepsister goes missing. As the town looks for her, the teenager joins in, experiencing odd things on parts of the lake. Meanwhile, a man whose mother had a seizure years earlier while driving them and ended up submerged in the lake (he survived but she didn’t), is still trying to figure out why she had her seizure after six years without any. His girlfriend is about to move away, but puts that off while they spend some time together and he explores parts of the lake where he works after odd things begin happening to him there.

As the two who are experiencing the odd occurrences in the lake explore further, the lake works against them in an unusual manner, making it harder for them to each solve their mysteries and move on with their lives. In the end, though, their stories pull together in a way that is both satisfying and haunting.

  • Top Scare: None
  • Heartbeats: 1 out of 5
  • Gore Factor: 1 out of 5
  • Scare Factor: 1 1/4 out of 5
  • Recommended for: 13 and up

3 Comments

Posted in 31 Days of Horror, Entertainment, Halloween, Horror Movie, M. Night Shyamalan, Movies, mystery, Paranormal, Reviews, scary movies, Streaming, Television, Thriller

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31 Days of Horror: Night Swim (2024; PG-13; 98 mins.)

Posted on October 7, 2024 | Leave a comment

Based on the trailer for this movie, I was expecting a chilling, poltergeist-type movie. And sure, about 10% delivered something like that. But the rest? Well it was more a mix of Creature from the Black Lagoon/The Shining/It meets Stranger Things. Kind of.

When baseball player Ray, who is fighting a muscular disease, realizes swim therapy might help him get back to playing the game he loves, he and his wife Eve buy a house with a large backyard pool, not knowing its dark history. Once Ray starts swimming daily, he not only improves, but heals. Meanwhile, creepy and scary things are happening to Eve and their kids each time they use the pool (especially at night), but of course each victim either dismisses it as his or her imagination or just stays out of the pool.

When the family decides to have a large pool party to welcome neighbors and new friends, Eve learns from the Realtor who sold them the house of the pool’s sad history involving the drowning of a child (said Realtor said she just learned of this recently), while outside in the pool, Ray is instigating a cutthroat game of Chicken. When the pool’s entity takes over the game, not only does the party end in near-disaster, but Eve decides now is the time to finally look into the house’s history. What she finds convinces her the family must leave. But the water, and Ray, have different ideas. Because the water has given, and someone must pay.

  • Top Scare: Poolside
  • Heartbeats: 1 3/4 out of 5
  • Gore Factor: 1 out of 5
  • Scare Factor: 2 out of 5
  • Recommended for: 13 and up

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31 Days of Horror: There’s Someone Inside Your House (2021; TV-MA; 96 mins.)

Posted on October 3, 2024 | Leave a comment

This Netflix-powered teen slasher movie from the producers of Stranger Things and The Conjuring movies starts out-and keeps going-strong, with plenty of suspects and victims to choose from, as well as that small-town claustrophobic feel necessary to the plot of so many such movies centered around football, outcasts, parental pressure, connections, parties, and secrets.

The story centers on Makani, a new senior from Hawaii at a small Nebraska high school, her group of friends, and her hidden relationship with an outcast named Ollie (the town deputy’s little brother) who she says is the only one who truly “gets” her.

As the movie opens, one of the star football players napping before Friday night’s kickoff awakens after dark to photos taped throughout his house of him and other players beating up another guy (his family for some reason is already at the game which is in full swing, trying to call him to see where he is, but when not reaching him simply shrugging as if to say, Hmm…you know how he is!). The photos lead him into a closet and an ambush, where a killer wearing a mask of his face stabs him, then sends a video to the entire town of the original beatdown. This event kicks off further outings of the secrets other students are hiding, along with their gruesome deaths by the hand of the look-alike masked killer, more released videos, and Makani’s growing fear that her own secret will be discovered. One by one, the victim count increases as the suspect pool decreases, and this Nebraska corn town soon celebrates harvest season (in a suspiciously still-green November cornstalk maze) with its own fiery oranges and yellows that will put and end to the killings once and for all.

  • Top Scare: Knife in Wall
  • Heartbeats: 2 out of 5
  • Gore Factor 3 out of 5
  • Scare Factor: 2 3/4 out of 5
  • Recommended for: 16 and up for gore, violence, language, and drug use

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31 Days of Horror: The Privilege (2022; TV-MA; 107 mins.)

Posted on October 31, 2023 | 3 comments

The Privilege

This German movie dubbed in English is one of those that starts out with a bit of promise for good scares and an interesting plot, but veers off the rails about halfway through. The best thing I can say about it is that the dark spirit which appears is truly very creepy and does offer a couple of good jump scares.

In The Privilege, teenager Finn attends an elite school with his twin sister Sophie and various friends. He has been seeing a psychologist/doctor and taking medications since he was young and watched his older sister jump from a bridge after being attacked by an evil spirit. Now, he is once again noticing odd things happening, this time involving his parents, twin, and others near his family. As he, his best gal friend, and new girlfriend seek answers, they uncover a dark conspiracy, yet he is gaslighted left and right by his family and won’t stand up for himself or what he knows is true. All is not lost, though, as they do manage to fit in a ménage à trois (it is a teen flick, after all) during all the running around and investigating (add eye roll here). When his parents’ plan progresses toward helping the spirit become all-powerful, Finn et al must put the puzzle pieces together and stop it before it’s too late.

  • Top Scare: Evil Spirit
  • Heartbeats: 2 1/4 out of 5
  • Gore Factor: 2 out of 5
  • Scare Factor: 2 1/2 out of 5
  • Recommended For: 15 and up

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Posted in 31 Days of Horror, Entertainment, Ghosts, Halloween, Hell, horror, Horror Movie, Movies, mystery, Reviews, scary movies, Streaming, Teenagers, Television, Thriller

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31 Days of Horror: The Faculty (1998; R; 104 mins.)

Posted on October 28, 2023 | Leave a comment

The Faculty

Many of us thought our teachers and other staff were aliens in high school, but in this fun late 90s movie with fantastic special effects, they really are. It’s also chock full of stars and soon-to-be stars, including Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Clea DuVall, Salma Hayek, Bebe Neuwirth, Usher, Robert Patrick, Famke Janssen, Jon Stewart, Piper Laurie, and Shawn Hatosy!

When a few students start noticing some teachers acting oddly, they band together to find out why. They are soon outwitted and outnumbered, though, by teachers and staff who have been possessed by aliens and are looking to take over the entire faculty and student body. Of course, parents don’t believe them and police officers are soon possessed too, so the group realizes they are on their own to stop the invasion before it spreads beyond the school. One problem: how can they be sure any of them aren’t also secretly possessed? Oh, and what can they use to kill the creatures they know so little about? As the alien lifeforms advance and become stronger and more creative to possess these final holdouts, the students must be smarter to defeat The (alien) Faculty.

  • Top Scare: Locker room
  • Heartbeats: 1 3/4 out of 5
  • Gore Factor: 2 1/2 out of 5
  • Scare Factor: 1 3/4 out of 5
  • Recommended For: 16 and up, due to violence, gore, drugs, profanity

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31 Days of Horror: Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin (2021; R; 98 mins.)

Posted on October 27, 2023 | Leave a comment

Paranormal Next of Kin

Upon discovering another installment in the found-footage style Paranormal Activity franchise–of which I’m a big fan–I wanted to check out the streaming-only movie which I apparently missed around the Covid lockdown. Well, turns out I didn’t miss all that much. Even though there was good tension and some nice jump scares thrown in, the plot itself was subpar and seemed to drag on too long. Here’s hoping the next installment gets back on track.

In Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin, Margot is a young woman who was abandoned as a baby by her mother. She has just been tracked down by a relative, Samuel, who tells her she has kinfolk in the Amish community he has recently left. Desperate to know more, Margot decides to create a documentary, so gathers Chris and Dale to travel with her to meet these people and find out why she was abandoned. After arriving, she begins discovering hints that all is not well with her relatives or their community, and continues digging deeper. Meanwhile, her kinfolk are welcoming her with open arms, and hoping she will stay…forever.

  • Top Scare: Pit
  • Heartbeats: 2 1/2 out of 5
  • Gore Factor: 3 1/4 out of 5
  • Scare Factor: 2 3/4 out of 5
  • Recommended For: 16 and up, due to violence, gore, profanity

 

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31 Days of Horror: No One Will Save You (2023; PG-13; 93 mins.)

Posted on October 24, 2023 | 3 comments

No One Will Save You

If you are looking for an atmospheric, creepy/eerie, sci-fi horror movie, look no further–No One Will Save You has it all and brains to boot! With an incredible performance by Kaitlyn Dever (as Brynn), which is not always easy with so little dialogue and working with special effects, this Hulu-streaming movie sucks you right in and never lets up. And as Stephen King himself said after its release, it’s “brilliant, daring, involving, scary…truly unique.”

Brynn is an anxious young woman living alone in a rural farmhouse, basically exiled from the nearby town after an undisclosed event involving her childhood best friend. Nevertheless, she works as a seamstress, and has a rich inner life and unique throwback style. One night, an invader enters her home, and she soon disovers it is an alien. She is able to fight it and flee, only to discover her neighbors weren’t so lucky and have been possessed by the aliens. As Brynn tries to escape, fight, or outsmart the increasingly scary invaders, her past returns to intertwine with her present in unexpected ways.

  • Top Scare: First Invader
  • Heartbeats: 3 1/2 out of 5
  • Gore Factor: 1 1/2 out of 5
  • Scare Factor: 4 out of 5
  • Recommended For: 13 and up

3 Comments

Posted in 31 Days of Horror, aliens, Entertainment, Faves, Halloween, haunting, horror, Horror Movie, Movies, Outer Space, Paranormal, Reviews, scary movies, Streaming, Television, Thriller

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31 Days of Horror: The Open House (2018; TV-MA; 94 mins.)

Posted on October 23, 2023 | 3 comments

The Open House

With the price of streaming going up, up, and yes, UP, I was glad to find another movie to watch on a platform I pay (dearly) for each month. This Netflix film had a nice creepy vibe and a great cast, plus as the main character points out in the movie, Open Houses are weird situations where you give your keys to someone, they let in a bunch of strangers to roam around your home, and then when they lock up and leave, you never really know what–or who–might be left behind.

In The Open House, teenager Logan and his mom Naomi need time away after the fiscally-irresponsible patriarch of the family dies. Naomi’s sister happens to have a five-star remote “cabin” (and by cabin, I mean luxury home) for sale, which she offers for their mourning period, with the caveat that they will need to leave whenever there is an Open House scheduled. Arriving in town, Logan and Naomi meet a cast of characters/future suspects, including a handsome store clerk who flirts with Naomi, a kooky older neighbor who may or may not have Alzheimer’s and whose husband may or may not have died, the Realtor showing the house, and the Realtor’s odd assistant. Soon, things begin happening in the house which make Logan suspicious of everyone, while Naomi is clueless. As events grow darker and more sinister, it becomes obvious Logan and Naomi are not welcome anymore, and this house is NOT for sale.

  • Top Scare: Basement
  • Heartbeats: 3 out of 5
  • Gore Factor: 2 1/2 out of 5
  • Scare Factor: 3 1/4 out of 5
  • Recommended for: 15 and up, due to brief nudity, language, some violence

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Posted in 31 Days of Horror, Entertainment, Halloween, horror, Horror Movie, Movies, mystery, Reviews, scary movies, Streaming, Teenagers, Television, Thriller

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31 Days of Horror: The Conference (2023; TV-MA; 100 mins.)

Posted on October 20, 2023 | 1 comment

the conference

I was looking for something humorous, and saw this Netflix movie from Norway (dubbed in English), so I decided to give it a try. Well, maybe the humor just didn’t quite translate (were they going for dark humor?), because I didn’t laugh once and found it mind-numbingly boring and over-the-top gory as well.

In The Conference, a small group of municipal employees are off to a woodsy conference center for team building, and to prepare for an upcoming groundbreaking ceremony for a project they have been working on which includes a controversial shopping center. Not only are the employees ineffective at their jobs, they are led by an odd duo with suspicious motives. Soon, one employee who has just returned from an unexplained absence–Lina–begins to question the project, various other employees, and how the group should proceed. Meanwhile, a mysterious figure has begun picking off the skeleton staff at the conference center one by one. The killer then swipes the large head from the project’s creepy “mascot” and continues its gruesome rampage in an oh, so bloody, manner.

Will Lina convince other employees to join forces with her to fight the company’s greed and corruption? Will the murderer get to all the employees, or just the weirdest ones? Will Lina save the day by figuring out who the murderer is and why they are doing this? Will any viewer still care after the first twenty minutes? Alas, all good questions, but I forgive you if you don’t care to find the answers and pass on this one for your 31 Days of Horror.

  • Top Scare: Jonas
  • Heartbeats: 1 out of 5
  • Gore Factor: 4 1/2 out of 5
  • Scare Factor 1 1/2 out of 5
  • Recommended for: 17 and up, due to gore, violence, nudity

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