Tag Archives: thriller

31 Days of Horror: Presence (2024; R; 84 mins.)

Posted on October 12, 2025 | Leave a comment

I enjoy slow-building, psychologically-bent paranormal tales, especially if they pick up speed and end with a big bang. This movie was defitinely slow-building, but in the end was not only paranormal lite, but the big bang lasted mere seconds. Such a disappointment.

When the Payne family moves to a new home for a fresh start after teenager Chloe’s friend dies, we slowly see the family’s life play out (the entire movie takes place inside the home from the ghost’s POV): mother Rebekah is a shady business woman and pushy mom; dad Chris is heartfelt and trying to be a good parent; older brother Tyler is a cocky athlete; and Chloe is distant, until she starts secretly hooking up with Tyler’s friend Ryan when no one else is at home. The presence residing in Chloe’s room soon reaches out to her before making itself known to the whole family. While the Paynes grapple with how to handle the “ghost” situation, we learn more about all these people, plus their motivations, intentions, things done in their pasts, and more, leading to a final thirty-second showdown and a ho-hum ending. This story had promise, but didn’t follow through with scares enough to be called a horror movie.

Top Scare: None

Heartbeats: 1/2 out of 5

Gore Factor: 1/2 out of 5

Scare Factor: 1/2 out of 5

Recommended for: 15 and up

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Posted in 31 Days of Horror, Entertainment, Ghosts, Halloween, horror, Horror Movie, Movies, Paranormal, Reviews, scary movies, Streaming, Thriller

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31 Days of Horror: The Rental (2020; R; 88 mins.)

Posted on October 31, 2024 | 1 comment

In what was billed as a horror movie, this low-key yawn-fest had me actually using the vacuum while streaming it, I was so disinterested in its outcome.

When brothers perfect-Charlie and lazy-Josh, Charlie’s wife Michelle, and Charlie’s co-worker Mina (who is also dating Josh), decide to rent an extravagant oceanside house for a weekend, they arrive to find an unfriendly and odd host there to give them their key. As their weekend gets underway, they have to work first to hide Josh’s dog, which he wasn’t supposed to bring because pets are not allowed, then calm Mina down through various huffy fits she has because of the host’s seemingly racist attitudes. Deciding to liven things up with some drugs, Michelle offers them around before deciding she’s too tired after all and goes to bed. Okaay.

As the weeekend progresses and Mina discovers spying devices hidden in the rental–too late to hide some things that have already occurred–plans are formed and reformed among the four as to how to handle the host, secrets that are both kept and revealed, new threats, and more. In the end, viewers will learn who wins in this match of ho-hum and who-cares.

  • Top Scare: Car
  • Heartbeats: 1 3/4 out of 5
  • Gore Factor: 2 out of 5
  • Scare Factor: 1 1/2 out of 5
  • Recommended for: 16 and up

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31 Days of Horror: Don’t Move (2024; R; 92 mins.)

Posted on October 26, 2024 | 1 comment

Another day, another smart/clever/strong woman trying to escape a psycho man; this horror movie trope seems to be going as strong as ever with the new Don’t Move.

When Iris–who is still grieving the accidental fall death of her young son in the Big Sur mountains–heads back there to tend his makeshift memorial and “join him,” a man named Richard talks her down from the cliff (literally and figuratively) while sharing his own grief story. But Richard is not who he seems, and has soon injected Iris with a paralytic that will take twenty minutes to fully render her unable to move or talk, as he drives her back to his cabin in the woods for a little one-on-one weekend.

During this window of time however, Iris is able to use a hidden Swiss Army knife to free her hands and cause Richard to wreck, eventually escaping into the woods. As she counts down the twenty minutes, growing slower and less able to function, Richard stalks her. He’s already told her all about “the others,” so she knows what awaits her if she isn’t smart and fast and resourceful. Using every bit of serendipity, luck, and strategic planning that either comes her way or she creates over the next hour or two as she waits for the paralytic to both fully kick in and then fully wear off, Iris fights to not only escape Richard, but to also reclaim the life she’s decided she wants to live after all.

  • Top Scare: In Cabin
  • Heartbeats: 2 1/2 out of 5
  • Gore Factor: 2 out of 5
  • Scare Factor: 1 3/4 out of 5
  • Recommended for: 15 or 16 and up

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Posted in 31 Days of Horror, Entertainment, Halloween, horror, Horror Movie, Movies, Reviews, scary movies, Serial Killers, Streaming, Thriller

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31 Days of Horror: Till Death (2021; R; 88 mins.)

Posted on October 25, 2024 | 5 comments

What’s more romantic than a surprise getaway to your lakeside house filled with lit candles and rose petals for your 11th anniversary? Well, definitely not awakening in bed the next morning, handcuffed to your controlling husband, as he lifts a gun and kills himself, then discovering he has thought of everything: landline is out, cell phone destroyed, all the drawers in the house are empty. Oh, and it’s the dead of winter far away from others, only your wedding dress is in the closet, and he’s left notes and other fun discoveries for you throughout the house.

Of course, being the badass survivor you already were after being attacked years ago (that’s how you met your lawyer husband after all, during that mess), you’re determined to survive this too. But wait, did that horrible husband of yours also include others in this revenge plot of his? Yes, yes he did. And did you say “revenge”? Yes, yes I did. See, he knows about him. And he’s maybe not the best person to begin with, either. When you put those together with some other stuff going on in his life, it all adds up. And, though he may have thought of most everything to get his revenge, you decide you also deserve your own bit of it as well. And you’re smart and strong and gutsy. So if you play your cards right, you just might show him who’s really in charge in the end.

  • Top Scare: Chase Scene
  • Heartbeats: 2 1/4 out of 5
  • Gore Factor: 3 out of 5
  • Scare Factor: 2 out of 5
  • Recommended for: 16 and up

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31 Days of Horror: Outside (2024; TV-MA; 142 mins.)

Posted on October 19, 2024 | Leave a comment

I was excited to find a new zombie movie, but wary when I saw the length of this one. As it turns out, this was only about 10% zombies tops, and 90% family dynamics, so yeah, the 144 minutes length was waaaay too long for a “nice” zombie movie.

The story begins with the family of Francis, Iris, Josh, and Lucas in a bloodied van, arriving at Francis’s family’s countryside mansion after seemingly escaping a zombie apocalypse. Already we realize the parents are not getting along/lovey-dovey, and that the boys are traumatized from whatever they’ve been through. After finding his father already dead, and helping his zombified mother out of her misery, the four move into the house, find a fresh well, discover chickens, and settle in a bit. Francis likes this life and wants to stay put, but Iris wants to follow rumors to head north where some say there’s a camp with food, medicine, regular folks, etc. This dispute will take up about 25% of the rest of the movie, along with flashbacks Francis has of his horrible father (10%), a secret Iris holds about one of the children (10%), Iris being unhappy and/or mad and/or pouty (20%), Francis becoming more and more weird (20%), and a frenzied final stretch of madness with both zombies and family (10%).

So, if you’re looking for some great zombie thrills and chills, you’re not going to find it here. If, however, you’re looking for the story of how one already-falling-apart family gets through a zombie apocalypse while slowly losing their minds, this one more than fits the bill.

  • Top Scare: Kitchen
  • Heartbeats: 1 3/4 out of 5
  • Gore Factor: 3 1/2 out of 5
  • Scare Factor: 2 1/4 out of 5
  • Recommended for: 16 or 17 and up

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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

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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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