Tag Archives: October

31 Days of Horror: Apollo 18 (2011; PG-13; 86 mins.)

I’m a big fan of found-footage horror movies, but had never heard of this one, so I thought I’d give it a go. However, the shaky, grainy black and white footage is just one of the issues making this film fall short of my (outerspace) dreams. Add in a plot that’s not too exciting, ho-hum scenes occurring mostly inside a poorly-lit spacecraft or on the surface of the moon, and under-developed characters, and this horror movie turned out to be more of a “naaah” than an “aaaaah!”.

It’s 1974 and the Space Race is still going strong. When the DOD decides to reboot the previously cancelled Apollo 18 flight, three astronauts set off for the moon on a secret two-day mission. Almost immediately upon landing near a large crater, audio interference begins, along with creepy sounds, blinking lights, and the discovery of an empty Russian spacecraft, among other unexplainable things. When the mission ends, the astronauts are more than ready to head home. But something is preventing their escape, something not quite of our world. Or is it? Who is really in control here? And what is the reason for everything that is happening to the astronauts?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

31 Days of Horror: Day Shift (2022; R; 113 mins.)

Day Shift

I love a funny horror movie interspersed with my scares each October, so I decided to check out this Chris Rock/Dave Franco/Snoop Dog vampire comedy. While it wasn’t a laugh a minute, it was light enough and had some incredible acrobatic feats throughout adding to the cool special effects. Plus, come on…vampires!

Chris Rock is hard-working dad Bud, trying to do right by his ten-year-old daughter and her mom by pretending to be a pool cleaner while really hunting vampires to make a living (certain teeth are worth different amounts of money). Thing is, he needs $10,000 fast, and he can only do that with a Union vampire hunting job, which he had been kicked out of. So he calls on his buddy Big John (Snoop Dog), top vampire dude in the Union, to help him get back in. He gets one more chance, but the deal is, he has to have a Union rep with him (enter uptight Franco as Seth) to make sure he doesn’t break any rules again. 

Meanwhile, a local Realtor named Audrey (who is really a top sunscreen-wearing vampire looking to take over “the day”) is out for revenge when she discovers a vampire she was close with has been decapitated (the only true way to kill them) and her tooth removed. Soon, Audrey, along with her vampire minions, is on Bud’s trail, and she has her sight set on Bud’s family. While Bud and Seth team up to destroy the town’s influx of vampires, they must also fight Audrey and work to keep Bud’s family safe.

  • Top Scare: Vampire Attack
  • Heartbeats: 1 3/4 out of 5
  • Gore Factor: 3 1/2 out of 5
  • Scare Factor: 2 out of 5
  • Recommended For: 16 or 17 and up, due to violence, gore, and profanity

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

31 Days of Horror: Vikingulven (Viking Wolf) (2022; TV-MA; 97 mins.)

viking wolf

This Norwegian movie streaming on Netflix caught my eye as it’s been a good while since I’ve seen a decent werewolf flick. All in all, I liked the atmospheric setting and lead teenager Thale, but could have done without about half the gore and blood, which was extreme.

In Viking Wolf, Thale has recently moved to town with her family, including her mother Liv who is a police officer. When Thale attends a party one night, she witnesses another teenager being brutally attacked by some “thing” and is scratched as she tries to intervene to help. The teen ends up dying, while Thale begins having unusual visions and is oddly affected by the moon. Hmmm.

When a grizzled hunter shows up in town to suggest the beast attacking townsfolk is a devil werewolf he has been hunting for a long time, and that the only way to kill it and its bloodline is with silver bullets, Liv continues investigating. Will she find the creature? Will she be able to kill it? And most importantly, can–and will–she stop the bloodline from continuing?

  • Top Scare: Outdoors
  • Heartbeats: 2 out of 5
  • Gore Factor: 4 out of 5
  • Scare Factor: 2 1/4 out of 5
  • Recommended for: 16 and up, due to violence, gore, and brief nudity