My Favorite Scary Movies

     In the spirit of this year's Halloween, I have decided to publish the post that I am sure most (if not all) movie junkies with a blog have posted by now: A list of my favorite scary movies. However, I have decided to give my list a bit of a twist: instead of randomly listing off my favorite horror flicks, I will list a sub-genre and then pick my favorite scary movie from that sub-genre. Now, some of these movies won't be the most original choice; however, these are the horror movie that I hold near and dear to my cold, beatless heart...

Haunted House Flick

Poltergeist

I was just a young lad the first time I saw the original POLTERGEIST. Much like Carolanne, I was young and impressionable so, needless to say, I couldn't sleep for days and could not stay in the same room with a televsion that was left on while by myself. My favorite haunted house flick gets props for effectively making innocence look so creepy...

Possession Flick

The Exorcist

Now, there is a thin line seperating what exactly qualifies as a possession flick and what qualifies as a haunted house flick; sometimes they are indistinguishable. However, I decided that this is my blog and I am going to do what I want.

I had always heard how good THE EXORCIST was and how scary it was and before ever seeing it I had always thought that it was one of those movies that people remember being better than it actually is. So when I saw it I was blown away at both how good the movie is and how many times it freaked me out! If you're not scared out of your witts by the end, then you're probably the demon that inherited the little girl's body.

 

Docu-horror Flick

The Last Exorcism

One of the latest trends in horror movies today is the docu-horror flick, as made famous by THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY trilogy. Last year, THE LAST EXORCISM blended the latest trend with a classic horror movie fad- possession. The result? One of the scariest flippin' movies I have seen in theaters ever! Seriously, this movie is messed up and if the rumor of a prequel is true (which I am sure it is), I cannot wait to see it!

Slasher Flick

Halloween

Now the category of slasher was the hardest for me to decide on because slashers are my favorite sub-genre of horror, but in the end I decided to go with the movie that brought slasher films main-stream success- John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN. This film gets its props for a few things: jump starting both director John Carpenter's, as well as Scream Queen: Jamie Lee Curtis', career, establishing music's role in the world of horror movies, and last but not least, for being frickin' scary!

Maybe this list gave you a few ideas for your Halloween movie marathon?

Happy Halloween, readers!



Review: Paranormal Activity 3

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILER THAT MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOT SEEN THIS MOVIE.

   
 Let me be the first to say that I was never a big fan of the first 'Paranormal' movie. Like everybody else, the first time I had ever heard about it was during its original marketing campaign, which was pure genius. Shortly following, everybody and their brother was talking about this movie and how scary it was. It took two more years until I gave it a chance and saw it for myself. I was underwhelmed. I figured that if I really wanted to watch people sleep, I'd still be sharing a room with my siblings.

      However, Paranormal Activity 2 won me over with its prequel-sequel combonation and ever since then I have been looking forward to the third one. After hearing that it was going to be done by the guys who did Cat Fish, I got even more excited. However, like the first film, I was disappointed in the result.
     It starts out like any Paranormal Activity movie: a step-father/ husband figure gets a new camera which happens to be conveniently followed by strange happenings around the house. So what does he do? He sets up cameras around the house in attempts to document this paranormal activity. However, I feel that the burden has fallen upon me to report that, dispite the claims made in the trailer, we never discover the secret behind this activity.

     When the ending hit I cannot say that I was surprised (it ends like every other Paranormal Activity). However, I was still expecting a little more of an explanation outside the old: grandmother is a satanist shtick. Sure, much is left to the imagination, but when you get to the third movie in a trilogy, is that what we really want? The filmmakers could have done that with this franchise had each film been a stand-alone story, but when you try to build upon already established mythology and continue a story into a third film, the audience expects to learn a bit more about what's really going on. I mean, after all, that's what trilogies are all about, right? Going back to the beginning? Discovering something that wasn't true from the get-go? Besides, the stanic grandmother isn't anything we couldn't have picked up from the second film.

     This is a horror movie so some of the lack of story may have been forgiven had this movie actually been scary. Remember what I said about a lot of this movie being nothing but people sleeping? That wasn't an exaggeration. With the expection of a couple of jumpy scenes, this movie just drags along, leading nowhere except an to anunacceptable conclusion.