See kids, that’s why whenever you want to honor someone’s memory, sometimes a symbolic ceremony works better than getting lost in woods haunted by demons. You don’t always have to do what dreams tell you to. Despite some flaws in the narrative though, “Grave Halloween” is a solid horror film. It’s a little bit of “Evil Dead,” and a little bit of “Blair Witch” thrown together for a pretty entertaining ersatz Asian horror picture. Albeit one that’s only given the Halloween tag because character Maiko has to commit the ceremony Segaki for her mother, which happens to fall on Halloween.
Tag Archives: Ghosts
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014)
The dilemma that the writers for the “Paranormal Activity” series now find themselves in is that “Paranormal Activity 3” was a prequel that told us everything we needed to know about this mythos. We began with Katie, continued with her sister, and then found out why they were so special. The third film ended the saga. Now, the continuing sequels are really just running on fumes and scrambling to find ways to continue a story that doesn’t really need continuing. “The Marked Ones” is a great effort, but a sub-par horror film.
Sinister (2012)
Ethan Hawke plays Ellison Oswalt, a successful crime author whose last book was a hit and garnered him a lot of hatred from folks surrounding the murders. Desperate for another hit book, Ellison moves his family in to the house where a vicious murder was committed in hopes of finding out why the family was murdered, and where their daughter Stephanie disappeared to. The explanation that he moves them in to the house where the murders ensued should be a clue that Ellison isn’t very smart. Hawke is a very good performer capable of conveying desperation and torment, but he’s given the task of turning Ellison in to an empathetic protagonist. Which is tough considering the more we know about Ellison the less likable he is, and when the screws finally turn on him, we’re not too saddened by it.
Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983)
Thankfully, time has been kind to “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” mainly because the short truncates the Charles Dickens classic, but still maintains many of its themes and heart. In the end, it never sugarcoats the potential fate of Scrooge McDuck, nor does it deny that Tiny Tim will die eventually because he couldn’t afford to eat and purchase the medicine needed for him. That said, “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” is a classic animated special with your usual Disney Easter Eggs, while also telling the classic story of the Christmas spirit.
The Devil’s Carnival (2012) [Collector’s Edition DVD/Blu-Ray Set]
Director Darren Lynn Bousman’s “The Devil’s Carnival” is a movie that made me think I should probably give “Repo! The Genetic Opera” another chance. Since its release, “Repo!” has apparently become a road show in the vein of “Rocky Horror,” and “The Devil’s Carnival” seeks to carry that success further. I sought out Bousman’s hour long film anxiously on the internet, and after watching it on Netflix, I still can’t stop raving about it. It’s a dark, mature, often brilliant look at the age old tale of lost souls and the devil’s efforts to lure them in to his den of sins and eternal torment. Three souls on the verge of death enter in to hell’s carnival and are put to the test. Lucifer is the ring master of this wicked carnival, and with his trio of minions, tries to test the revolve of these lost individuals.
The Conjuring (2013)
It’s amazing how James Wan once went from the man who brought us movies about a maniac torturing people to one of the most horrifying ghost tales ever brought to the big screen. “The Conjuring” lives up to its hype as a slow boil and immensely scary supernatural tale about an average family terrorized by a vicious demonic entity that’s intent on ruining their foundation from the inside out.
976-Evil II (1992)
Director Jim Wynorski offers up a sometimes clever, but inferior follow up to the original Robert Englund film, that doesn’t really advance the narrative so much as it treads water. Rather than explore the themes of the apocalypse, and the eventual war of good and evil dictated by the hotline, we’re once again subjected to a tale about the hotline wreaking havoc.