Tag Archives: Revenge

Horror Movie: Scream (R; 1996; 111 min.)

Posted on October 29, 2010 | Leave a comment

How can a horror movie go wrong when Wes Craven is directing it? I love this movie not only for its good scares, but also for its fun and funny horror movie self-references, its knowledge that it is a standard horror movie with all the tricks and subplots that implies. Plus, it has some major star power with Drew Barrymore, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Neve Campbell…the list goes on!

Neve is Sidney, a high school girl whose mother was brutally murdered the previous year. In fact, almost EXACTLY one year ago…the anniversary is only a day or two away! Well, of course her father goes away on a business trip, leaving her alone at this crucial time, and her boyfriend starts pressuring her once again for sex. Nice people, huh? Meanwhile, two classmates are murdered (Drew Barrymore is excellent in this role as the typical blonde being tormented and chased while she’s all alone, and I was sad she doesn’t make it past the first 10 minutes of the movie), and the kids’ school goes on full alert.

Enter the ultimate high school principal: THE FONZ! He tries to keep the teens safe, while a local news anchorwoman, Gale Weathers (ha! ha!), tries to get the scoop. Poor Sidney encounters “Father Death,” the costumed/masked killer around every corner, but manages to escape time and again. Finally, due to the killings, school is cancelled. So – of course! – the kids throw a party and watch the ultimate horror movie, Halloween, while drinking and making out. As the death toll rises one by one, Sidney must fight for her life, especially when she discovers who is behind all the killings, and why!

Top Scare: Early “Father Death” chase scenes
Heartbeats: 3 out of 5
Gore Factor: 4 1/4 out of 5
Suspense Factor: 4 out of 5
Recommended for: 17 and up for language, gory deaths, scare factor, and sexual situations

Next up: The Shining

Horror Movie: Friday the 13th (R; 1980; 95 min.)

Posted on October 20, 2010 | 2 comments

Went back to another original/classic…some call it one of the first slasher movies upon which so many of today’s movies are based. Can’t believe this is one of eight of these movies in this series; with the gore factor, I just watched the first one and that was good enough for me.

Friday the 13th is set at Camp Crystal Lake, or Camp Blood, as the locals still call it. That’s because in 1957, a young boy drowned there and in 1958, two counselors were murdered as they made out in an old barn. Since then, the camp has been closed, but Steve-o wants to change all that. He’s hired several college-age kids (including a very young Kevin Bacon) to come in to help get the camp ready for its opening just a couple of weeks away.

Annie, one of these teens, is heading to the camp to be the cook (yes, one cook for the entire camp!), but the town cuckoo named Ralph warns her, “You’ll never come back again. It’s got a death curse!” Well, he was RIGHT! Poor Annie never even makes it to the camp before she meets her demise, set to a whispery man’s voice of “Ch ch ch ch, ah ah ah ah.” Creeeeepy!

Meanwhile, back at camp, the other counselors are working and playing (mostly playing) while Steve heads into town. It begins to pour down in the dark, dark woods, so they split up (naturally!) to head to various cabins for strip Monopoly or make-out sessions. This is a teen movie after all!

One by one the counselors are picked off with axes and other various handy instruments of torture, until only one girl is left. She soon meets up with the killer, and must spend the rest of the movie trying to run, quiet her breathing so as not to be detected, discovering dead bodies and crying, and just being the ignorant horror movie girl in general. We do discover before the movie’s end who the killer really is, and the killer’s motivation – psycho killer – and even get a surprise or two thrown in for good measure.

Top Scare: Near the very end
Heartbeats: 2 out of 5
Gore Factor: 3 3/4 out of 5
Suspense Factor: 2 3/4 out of 5
Psycho factor: 3 out of 5
Recommended for: 17 and up due to several sex scenes, gory killings and fear factor in general

Next up: The Blair Witch Project

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Posted in 31 Days of Horror, Blood, camp, Friday the 13th, horror, Movies, scary movies

Tagged Camp, Entertainment, Halloween, Horror Movies, October, Revenge

Horror Movie: Guess the Name (R; 1976; 98 min.)

Posted on October 15, 2010 | Leave a comment

I was too tired last night for subtitles (The Orphanage), so chose to watch a classic instead. My husband had never seen it, so that made it even better. It was a literal bloodbath, or bloodshower I should say (in two scenes!), starring The Coal Miner’s Daughter, Urban Cowboy, Greatest American Hero, and Mrs. Bradford…can you guess its title?

Okay, hopefully you said Psycho…nah, just kidding. Carrie, of course! Now I know I just reviewed another Stephen King adaptation yesterday, Salem’s Lot, but he is the King of Horror after all, so I thought another so soon was okay.

Carrie is set in the land of true horror, aka High School. Raised by a fanatically religious mother, Carrie is “different” from the other kids. Not only does she become the world’s oldest girl to start menstruating, she discovers she has special abilities to move items, close doors, break mirrors, and make young, bratty boys riding bikes fall to the ground when she gets angry! Okay, take away the crazy mother and it sounds like a pretty good life to me so far, right?

Wrong! Carrie’s prom is coming up, and the most popular boy in school’s girlfriend, played by the young and beautiful Amy Irving, encourages him to ask Carrie to the prom to make up for a mean prank she pulled on Carrie with her classmates. Carrie accepts, but her mother says, “They’ll make fun of you!” in an incredibly creepy voice. Carrie says, “Things are going to change around here, Momma” as she throws her mother onto the bed (twice!) using only the powers emanating from her huge, round eyes.

Off to the prom she goes, and is having a great time dancing and being a “normal” kind of girl, but little does she know another classmate, who has been banned from the prom due to her participation in the cruel prank on Carrie, is seeking her revenge that night. Enlisting her boyfriend’s help, the Urban Cowboy, this classmate will soon learn that hell hath no fury like a teenaged girl drenched in blood!

Carrie is the ultimate high school girl’s revenge fantasy; revenge for all the wrongs that have been done to her over the years, for all the pointing and laughing and “cold shoulder-ing.” One of my favorite scenes is during Carrie’s walk home following the prom, when a quick cut-away shot shows Carrie/a creepy doll-like figure in the road diverting a car from hitting her. Second favorite scene: the final minute…got my husband good on that one!

Top Scare: Ending
Hearbeats: 3 out of 5
Gore Factor: 2 out of 5
Suspense Factor: 3 1/2 out of 5
Psycho Factor: 4 out of 5
Recommended for: 16 and up, due to lots of cussing, date and teacher/student violence, sex scenes and general themes

Next up: The Orphanage