Bullying is horrible, we all agree on this, at times it can lead to terrible consequences. In #horror, a story based on true events, first time writer and director Tara Subkoff shows what happens when the bullying of one girl by her rich friends goes too far. Here we are shown teen girls mercilessly taunting and verbally abusing each other over and over again. But it’s ok, because you laughed…
After her mother’s death, Max has difficulty re-adjusting to life without her. As she grieves, she’s invited to a screening of 80s slasher Camp Bloodbath in which her mother starred. Against what might be her better judgment, she decides to go with her friends. Once there, an incident pushes the group into the film itself, Last Action Hero style, where they face off with its masked baddie Billy Murphy and try to save themselves, the cast, and Max’s mother.
While the rest of America is celebrating the resurgence of the Peanuts with “The Peanuts Movie,” those that want an education in to the appeal of the series can pick up Warner’s latest release. While the holiday series from the Peanuts are typically timeless and quite iconic, the Peanuts has also earned themselves plenty of Emmy nominations and a few wins with some non-holiday themed Charlie Brown specials that are also quite good in their own right. Warner releases over four hours of Charlie Brown specials on a two DVD set that is so worth the pick up. Especially if you’re a hardcore Peanuts fans like yours truly.
Joel Edgerton’s “The Gift” is this year’s “Gone Girl.” It’s one of the most irredeemably dark and nasty thrillers made in years and one of the best films of 2015, easily. It’s packed to the brim with morbid undertones, despicable circumstances, and characters that always walk in shades of grey. Despite audiences being able to identify who the protagonists are, they’re brutally unlikable people that all pretty much build the foundation for truly dire consequences. I highly suggest to audiences that love a good mystery, that they completely avoid any and all spoilers, and really absorb the message and dread soaked mystery behind “The Gift” for themselves.
What “Goosebumps” accomplishes, is not just paying homage to the joy of “Goosebumps,” but to the joy of reading and writing as well. It’s not many movies that can convey the idea of writing as something purely magical, and “Goosebumps” pinpoints how books can be a portal in to something entirely otherworldly, especially if you’re a fan of the world RL Stine has built for his fans since the 1990’s. More of a meta-horror comedy than an actual series of tales, “Goosebumps” is set in Delaware where Zach and his newly widowed mother are preparing to start their lives over. With Zach trying to adapt to his new school, he meets the gorgeous Hannah (Odeya Rush), a neighbor who is home schooled by her reclusive and strict father.
The Delusseys’ family life is disturbed after the father falls ill. As the family adapts to this, Fay, the teenage daughter, begins to think she has a stalker hellbent on taking over her life and stealing her place and her identity. As things escalate, others start to think they have seen Fay where she was not and she starts thinking it’s someone who looks just like, her doppelganger, attempting to assume her identity. What Fay doesn’t know yet is that her family hides a secret that could possibly explain what is happening to her.
A schizophrenic military man, Martin, with heavy PTSD is holed-up in his family’s cabin when his brother and sister eventually come to have an intervention for him. Foil on the windows and constant talk of a pod and military experiment on him as well as others only convinces his brother further that he needs help now while his sister is starting to take his side and believe him. As Martin talks of having the pod trapped in the basement, things escalate quickly.