Crimson Peak (2015)

Crimson Peak
IMDB rate: 6,8
Genre: Ghost
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Hunnam
My rate: 5

It's been a long time since I wrote a review. I was a bit burned out from writing I suppose, busy with school and just not interested in writing for a bit. I love horror movies, and I always will, but it's a fact that 90% of horror movies is garbage and I suppose writing about them would be just more or less the same like previous ones. It's not that I didn't watch any horror movies or something, I actually still have a lot of concepts waiting to be written. It's more that I just didn't feel like writing about them I suppose.

Recently I watched the movie Crimson Peak, a movie I was very interested in and happens to be made by the director of an excellent movie: Pan's Labyrinth. Now I must admit that I don't like everything Guillermo del Toro has made. For example, I wasn't much of a fan of Hellboy and Pacific Rim. I also didn't like Don't Be Afraid in the Dark too much. Anyway, the trailer of Crimson Peak was promising and many people seemed to like it so I was glad I was finally able to see it.

To officially start this review I'd like to start with saying that I wasn't a very big fan of Crimson Peak. I was actually rather bored during most parts of it and thought it was kinda predictable. But! By seeing this movie it gave me some new-found inspiration to write a new review again! This is not because I want to burn this movie down with my opinion, not at all. It's more that I find this movie interesting to discuss because it's had some elements that I found interesting or whatever.

Storyline
In the aftermath of a family tragedy, an aspiring author is torn between love for her childhood friend and the temptation of a mysterious outsider. Trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathes, bleeds - and remembers.

Worldwide Accents
There's a great bunch of actors in Crimson Peak. Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland, Stoker) did in my opinion a decent job portraying Edith. I did think her character could've used some character development. To me it seems like Edith was just a very plain woman, who just happens to be a bit stubborn and curious. I think she should've had more lines to make her character seem more interesting.

Tom Hiddleston's (The Avengers, Thor) character Thomas is kinda opposite of that, since he seemed to get all the character development and all the lines in this entire movie. He's the one talking the most and the entire story seems to be more about Thomas than about Edith. Tom Hiddleston did portray Thomas very well though, he has great looks for the "charming/mysterious" man. And his eyes, oh man his eyes will even make the viewers believe he's totally legit.

Rising star Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty, Mama, Interstellar) I was actually kinda disappointed about. I love her in other movies, she's a great actress with many talents I think. Her role in Crimson Peak as Lucille just wasn't really her thing I suppose. The entire character was just too much, too obvious and just not a suiting character for Chastain. In my opinion Jessica Chastain is an excellent choice for movies such as Interstellar and Zero Dark Thirty. Movies like Mama and Crimson Peak, I think not so much.

I think the casting in Crimson Peak was a bit odd. The beginning of the movie is set in America, where Edith, her father (Jim Beaver) and her friend Alan (Charlie Hunnam) are from. The second half of the movie is set in the UK, where Thomas and Lucille are from. Now the thing I find odd about this, and actually quite a bit annoying as well, are the accents in this movie. They were not performed all too great. Mia Wasikowska, originally from Australia, has to perform an American accent, which in my opinion sounded more British than American. Charlie Hunnam is originally from the UK and has a more British accent as well. Jim Beaver is actually the only one from America and he is also the only one with a believable accent. Tom Hiddleston is from Britain and luckily he had to perform a British accent, which was done great of course. Jessica Chastain on the other hand is from America and her British accent, not so good.

Don't Be Afraid of Mama?
Crimson Peak felt too me as if I was watching Don't Be Afraid of the Dark again, but then like a very early prequel. The house is more or less the same: Big, creepy and haunted. Also the entire vibe was a bit the same, but like I said, just about 100 years earlier. The ghosts looked very lame to be as well. At first it felt as if I was watching a red version of the ghost in Mama, where Guillermo del Toro happens to be a producer off. Coincidence? I think not. Then after a bit it felt as if I was watching at the in-game ghost of the movie Stay Alive. Since it's an in-game ghost it doesn't look very real so now you know how the ghosts in Crimson Peak look. Basically, ghost creation wasn't the strongest point of Crimson Peak.

The scares in the movie were kinda predictable as well. Shadows passing by in the background, silly jump-scares and weird CGI ghosts crawling to Edith (who didn't even looked to surprised about it). Well, I actually think the entire movie was kinda predictable. I'm not going to spoil anything but I don't know why they try to keep that *secret* as some major surprise when they basically revealed it already in the beginning of the movie. The movie just feels a bit empty to be honest. By the way, Am I the only one who thought that stabbing scene was the lamest stabbing scene in movie history?

Visuals
Nope, I wasn't a fan of Crimson Peak. It felt like a gothic romance story where they threw some ghosts in to make it seem horror. The ghosts actually are just some side-story to fill up the story about Edith's misfortune to run into the Sharpe's and thus friend-zoning the good-guy. I must admit that one thing that didn't 'underwhelm' me was the visual aspect of Crimson Peak. With that I mean how incredibly good the locations looked. An amazingly beautiful house, great setting for a gothic romance indeed. Sadly, visuals don't make a movie.

Unfriended (2015)

Unfriended

Alternative name: Cybernatural
IMDB rate: 5.8
Genre: Ghost, Found-footage
Starring: Heather Sossaman, Shelley Hennig, Moses Storm

It's been awhile since I last posted here. Still having difficulties trying to combine school, homework, watch TV shows while traveling in the train, World of Warcraft and writing reviews. Good thing is that I sometimes have to watch movies or play games for school but that's kinda different from the usual stuff I post about. Maybe someday I'll start writing about it here as well, we'll see.

So onto the 2015 horror movie Unfriended! I honestly didn't expect much from Unfriended and well.. it was good I didn't expect much because it was kinda rubbish really. Unfriended is a lot like the movie The Den where the movie is completely recorded with phone and computer cameras. In The Den it's filmed as if it's a documentary of screen-recordings. In Unfriended it's like we're just seeing the same thing that the main character does, so not with screen-recordings.

While video chatting one night, six high school friends receive a Skype message from a classmate who killed herself exactly one year ago. At first they think it's a prank, but when the girl starts revealing the friends' darkest secrets, they realize they are dealing with something out of this world, something that wants them dead.

Like I already mentioned, Unfriended is a lot like The Den because it has similar ways of approaching the set-up of filming. The Den however was a much better movie because it actually contained an interesting story, good build-up of plot and some likable characters. All of this is what lacks in Unfriended really.

Unfriended has literally the worst characters ever. They're all so unlikable and this already when you don't know the clue of the story yet. They're really all a bunch of dicks, no one seems to like each other and they're just very cringeworthy. Worst group of friends I've ever seen. There's really no character depth in any of them since they're all just a bunch of superficial jerks. They all still seem to live at home, yet while everyone is being murdered none of their parents seem to care. Huge plothole or are they really that terrible people that not even their parents care?

The actors are horrible as well. It was like looking at a 10-years old musical through Skype rather than watching some actual actors being terrified of ghost stuff. They were unrealistic and honestly it's not really an acting talent to just scream for 90 minutes.

The story is kinda.. meh... A ghost contacting and hacking people over Skype, it's kinda lame. Also why right at that moment? Why not sooner? You can tell me that this movie contains a beautiful message which is supposed to tell me "Don't be a (cyber) bully", but honestly even if I was I'm not really expecting someone to come back from death to make me kill myself over Skype. Because honestly, that's just bullshit.

Unfriended is in my opinion a rubbish movie that tries to be original with it's Skype approach but it fails miserably at being original. Purely Skyping the entire movie is just boring as hell. The approach is similar to The Den which I'd recommend if you want to watch a good original, somewhat similar, movie. Actors aren't very good, characters are horribly written and the plot is unbelievable.

My rate: 3/10

Annabelle (2014)

Annabelle

IMDB rate: 5,5

Genre: Dolls, Ghost
Starring: Annabelle Willis, Ward Horton, Tony Amendola

Annabelle is the prequel for highly anticipated The Conjuring. To be honest, I wasn't a big fan of The Conjuring. I thought it was a reasonable movie, but nothing special although everybody seems to love it. I did look forward to Annabelle though, because the doll from The Conjuring was pretty scary looking and a movie about it would be amazing. I am a big fan of Dead Silence, which also happens to be made by the same director as The Conjuring, the amazing James Wan. Even though Annabelle is a prequel of The Conjuring, it's unfortunately not made by James Wan, and I think that's the biggest reason this movie isn't very good.

John Form has found the perfect gift for his expectant wife, Mia - a beautiful, rare vintage doll in a pure white wedding dress. But Mia's delight with Annabelle doesn't last long. On one horrific night, their home is invaded by members of a satanic cult, who violently attack the couple. Spilled blood and terror are not all they leave behind. The cultists have conjured an entity so malevolent that nothing they did will compare to the sinister conduit to the damned that is now... Annabelle..

I was very excited for Annabelle, the doll is scary looking and I honestly think the horror world lacks good scary doll movies. The Conjuring was a reasonable movie, so I had high hopes for Annabelle as well. But like I already mentioned, it was not directed by James Wan who definitely is the master of puppets in my opinion.

Annabelle was in my opinion a pretty weird movie, the movie had some troubles finding a direction and so it seemed like it just went all kinds of directions. There are scary dolls, ghosts, some sort of solid ghost, demons and weird children, it's a bit too much, and it seems like it all leads to nothing. I admit that it does have some nice scares, but for some reason they were not fitting scares for this movie. The dolls in this movie were pretty scary, but unfortunately they were hardly used. In a movie like this, when the camera focuses very long on a lifeless object you just expect that something will happen, the head will move or the doll will blink or something like that. And nothing similar to that every happens, biggest disappointment ever. Sure, it's not the most original stuff that could happen in a doll movie, but it's almost necessary to make the doll really seem scary. The doll floats once, absolutely not scary at all.

The acting was decent I think, Annabelle Willis (hah!) plays new mother Mia and she does a decent job playing the scared housewife. I had more respect though for Eddie Redmayne look-a-like Ward Horton who plays her husband John Gordon, he was pretty awesome I think. The one I appreciated the most in this movie was the baby though, not for her acting skills, but for her incredible adorableness :).

Annabelle is not a very original movie and not the fun prequel of The Conjuring that I was expecting. It's lacking an interesting story and the doll is just not made scary unfortunately. I think it could've been more interesting if made by James Wan which would've been the more logical director compared to John R. Leonetti. It's a very predictable movie, nothing special ever happens. Sure, it's made nice and there are some cool jumpscares but overall it's a very unimaginative movie which resembles Insidious a bit too much unfortunately.

My rate: 5/10

Housebound (2014)

Housebound

IMDb rate: 6,8

Genre: Comedic, Ghost

Starring: Morgana O'Reilly, Rima Te Wiata, Cameron Rhodes

Sorry for my absence, I promise I'll be updating regularly again from now on :).
 A few weeks ago I watched the movie Housebound, a movie from New Zealand. I've seen only one other horror movie from New Zealand, which is of course the magnificent Black Sheep, so well, I had high expectations of this movie! The poster of this movie looks pretty hilarious, so based upon the good looking poster I decided to watch Housebound, without any knowledge of what it was about. When I finally learned that the movie was about a girl trapped inside the house because of a warrant, I was afraid that the movie would be something like 100 Feet, thank god that wasn't the case.

Here's what Housebound is about:
Kylie Bucknell is forced to return to the house she grew up in when the court places her on home detention. Her punishment is made all the more unbearable by the fact she has to live there with her mother Miriam - a well-intentioned blabbermouth who's convinced that the house is haunted. Kylie dismisses Miriam's superstitions as nothing more than a distraction from a life occupied by boiled vegetables & small town gossip. However, when she too becomes privy to unsettling whispers & strange bumps in the night, she begins to wonder wheter she's inherited her overactive imagination, or if the house is in fact possessed by a hostile spirit who's less than happy about the new living arrangement.

The first thing that's noticeable about Housebound is the atmosphere, it's somewhat dark but also not very serious. This feeling is being highlighted by the many sarcastic remarks made by the main character Kylie Bucknell. There's not a whole lot of music playing in the background, and when there is music it's very dark. It's gives a bit of a crazy vibe over the movie, because it's so sarcastic and somewhat comedic and yet so dark.

Great acting, Morgana O'Reilly plays the rebellious Kylie Bucknell and she did a great job doing so. I liked her character as well, mainly a rebel but also with a nicer side. I felt sorry for her mother many times, great character writing. The mother played by Rima Te Wiata did an amazing job as well, the role of a sweet caring mother who isn't turning her back on her rebellious daughter was perfect for Rima Te Wiata. I wished to have seen more of the character of the stepfather tough, played by Ross Harper. 

The ending was slightly confusing because there suddenly was a whole lot going on, but overall I really enjoyed watching Housebound. It wasn't a standard ghost movie like we normally see and it wasn't necessarily predictable either. Normally comedic horror movies are more funny than scary, but this movie was actually somewhat scary as well. For example, the toy bear, creepy as hell. It did a great job at combining the two I think. Housebound was an entertaining movie, on moments it was a bit weird, but overall I enjoyed this movie from New Zealand!

My rate: 7,5/10

Review: Barricade (2012)

Barricade

IMDB rate: 4,4

Genre: Ghost

My review of Barricade won't be a very long one since it was a pretty plain movie and I simply don't have a whole lot to say about it. Barricade is a pretty confusing movie which tries a bit too hard to put you one the wrong track.

The Shade family go to a cabin retreat in the mountains, a year after the death of their mother/wife Leah. While there they are tormented by visions and happenings that start to scare them. But are these incidents real or in their minds? The father feels compelled to barricade them in the cabin in order to keep them safe. But will it work out?

I always enjoy watching Netflix movies, you never know what you'll get. Sometimes you're greatly surprised, other times you're just hugely disappointed. I always choose the first movie in the list that I haven't seen yet and that's how I got to watch the movie Barricade. I wouldn't say that Barricade is a bad movie, there's pretty good acting by Eric McCormack who plays a father who doesn't really know what to do with his kids. Conner Dwelly and Ryan Grantham play his kids and they do a pretty good job as well. 

There's definitely nothing wrong with the acting, but the movie itself is just pretty boring and unbelievable. Like I already said, it just tries too hard to put you on the wrong track which causes that the movie becomes confusing. This is the type of movie where you watch a scene and a second later the character is back on the couch, because nothing you just watched really happened. It's kinda annoying at times because you don't know what's real and what's not. Because this happens quite often you're quickly suspicious that these ghost parts aren't really happening. 

The part where it just becomes boring is when the family seems to hear things which aren't there, or claim that there's someone watching them. Because we as a viewer don't see a damn thing. Then this guy starts to barricade himself and his kids in his house while he still hears noises in the houses... fuck logic, right?

For a low budget movie Barricade is decent, the acting is very good. It's just that they tried too hard with this movie, it's kinda boring really. Barricade is a pretty standard movie, although the ending might surprise you.

My personal rate: 5/10

Review: The Ward (2010)

The Ward

IMDB rate: 5,6

Genre: Ghost

After ten year of silence, John Carpenter finally releases another movie, being The Ward. I'm not too familiar with John Carpenter's work since I've only seen the Halloween movies and the Master of Horror movies he made, so I can't really talk in terms of this movie fits with Carpenters usual work. 

I've wanted to see this movie quite some time already, mostly because I thought the DVD cover was interesting. Also, Amber Heard plays in it which is always interesting, I think. This girl is Johnny Depp's fiancee for christ sake, she must do something right. This movie basically is a collection of pretty girls in an institution. Amber Heard is a pretty badass girl who I would love to see someday in a real kick ass movie (not something like Drive Angry...). She's a good actress as well, and even I, being a female, must admit that she's a pleasure to the eye. Another role is for Danielle Panabaker (is it weird if I keep confusing her with Amber Tamblyn?), I'm not a big fan of her earlier work, but she did OK in The Ward I guess. Lyndsy Fonseca plays a pretty small part in this movie, I actually would've loved to see her more. 

The movie is set in the 50's or 60's or something, and it all seems plausible in terms of clothing and stuff, only Amber Heard seems to dress like she's from a different time. Also, the TV seems to be a bit too big for that time. For patients of a mental institution they look awfully good, their make-up is always done perfectly and so is their hair. It's not even a not-make-up-look, it's just a full thrown on face which makes the situation a bit hard too believe.

The movie is kinda predictable, purely because every horror movie that's set in a mental institution is pretty much the same. The Ward of course had the same clichés such as a cranky old nurse, the electric shock treatment when someone is not behaving as they should and thousand times the line "I'm not crazy", we've seem them all already. I actually was kinda relieved that the male nurse wasn't a pervert who flirted with the patients (or worse), since that would've made the cliché complete.

I was kinda disappointed with the ending, since it's pretty much the same as Identity. I think they could've made it a lot more interesting and more original too, although a typical ghost movie ending would've been boring too. Perhaps when you haven't seen Identity you might like this ending, since it's somewhat of a shocker at first, but when you did see Identity it's just not very surprising anymore.

The Ward is a good movie with good acting and a few jumpscares. It's a pretty enjoyable watch, but I think the fun's out of it once you've seen the ending. Not a special movie but it's not bad either.

My personal rate: 6/10

Review: Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)

Paranormal Activity 4

IMDB rate: 4,5

Genre: Found Footage, Ghost

The Paranormal Activity movies are a pretty big hype the last couple of years and well, the franchise grew quite fast since the first release. At the moment there are five Paranormal Activity movies and I believe a sixth one is also coming. I watched the first three movies and today I watched the fourth one, two years after it release. It's actually the first Paranormal Activity movie that I haven't seen in the cinema, which should give you an idea what my thoughts were about the third movie. The fifth movie, The Marked Ones, doesn't seem good at all and I'm not even sure if I will ever watch that one.

This is actually my first Paranormal Activity review, simply because I didn't write reviews yet when I watched the first three movies. But here's a quick overview of my thought about the first three movies! I liked the first movie, it was somewhat refreshing at the time and it made found footage movies popular again. I think I liked the second one even more, it was actually one of the few movies (besides Mars Attacks and Donnie Darko) that gave me nightmares. I hated the third one, it was just dumb and only gave a bit more information about why it all happened to these girls. Also, everything that appeared in the trailer did absolutely not appear in the movie itself, important things such as the fire. 

Now, the fourth Paranormal Activity movie. I did not hate it, but I didn't like it either. I didn't like it because it was simply a more boring copy of the first movie. They threw in a few new techniques to show what happened but other than that it was just exactly the same. Instead of installing cameras all over the house, they now let their webcams of their laptops film the entire day. And it even does this apparently when the power is off? Also, these people never close their laptops and even their kid has a laptop with a very good camera. 

The scares are all the same, only more mild this time. Throwing people in the air to knock them out, removing their blankets and dragging them across the room. We've seen these things in all three movies already and it's predictable and frankly, not very scary anymore. The only new thing in this movie was the addition of the Kinect. It gave a very cool vision of dots all over the room when night vision was turned on, this was especially cool when the kid Wyatt walks downstairs and you see something follow him. It looked a bit fake but it was a nice thought I think. Also, I thought the cat was a cool addition, it caused a few unpredictable scares. I did think they would make use of the cat more though.

I must say that I was thankful that the subtitles described the noises that these people heard because I had my volume turned up pretty loud and I still couldn't hear a thing that they apparently heard. So when I read [thumping noise upstairs] I at least knew why they stood up and asked 'who is there?'.

In every Paranormal Activity movie there does not happen a thing in the first half of the movie, I kinda expected the same thing with this movie, only still nothing happened when the first half had passed. Or well, I think it's better to say that nothing new or interesting happened. Not only until the very end of this movie something new happened, and that was literally in the last ten seconds. These last ten seconds definitely did not cause a 'WOW' effect with me, it more caused a 'WTF is this shit' effect, I think. You know what happened? Out of nowhere there comes a mass of angry (possessed?) woman towards the camera and when the camera turns around we see a very scary Katie. That's it. This mass of woman had absolutely not been mentioned in the entire movie, and I really have no idea where the fuck they came from and what their entire purpose was for this ending. 

I also don't really get the storyline, Katie moves in next door with this weird scary kid named Robbie, and I figured he was Hunter since Katie kidnapped Hunter at the end of part 2. But this Robbie kid is just someone and I actually have no idea where the fuck he came from. This Hunter kid apparently is Wyatt, who apparently was adopted. But that's all the information we get about it. We have no idea how he got away from Katie and got with this new family. And this is only how I interpreted it, I'm probably all wrong, since this doesn't make any sense. 

Paranormal Activity 4 was pretty boring and absolutely not scary. It's definitely the least good one, since it's illogical as fuck. I literally have no idea what suddenly was going on in this movie, but they will probably tell us in the next movie.. or not, whatever. The movie is predictable and only changed slightly from the previous installment. There's nothing bad to say about the acting or anything, but there is about the rest of this movie. I enjoyed part 1 and 2, but after that things of course became a mess. 

My personal rate: 4/10

Review: Bag of Bones (2011)

Bag of Bones

IMDB rate: 5,8

Genre: Ghost

Bag of Bones officially is a TV show, but it only has two episodes. I haven't read the book yet, I own it, but it simply didn't seem interesting enough to read. When I read some reviews about this movie I read that the movie was very different from the book, so I'm kinda curious about that difference. I will read it eventually though. 

I think this will be a rather short review, because I just don't have a whole lot to say about it. The episodes are each 80 minutes long but in my opinion things could've been much shorter. It was definitely not necessary to make it last in total for 2 hours and a half hours. I liked watching Bag of Bones but there were a lot of things going on that seemed unnecessary. 

I think it could've easily fitted in a 110 minutes movie. 

The acting is fairly good. I'm normally not a huge fan of Pierce Brosnan but he was quite good in this movie. He seemed a lot more sympathetic compared with his other movies. Normally I'm a big fan of Melissa George, but for the first time I was pretty annoyed with her. Her character was annoying and she didn't act as good as usual. 

I liked watching it, although I wasn't very impressed with it. It wasn't extremely interesting. The story of Sara Tidwell could've been revealed a lot earlier I think, because now she keeps returning as a character and it seems useless for the story. It's as if she's only useful as singer until it's revealed what her role is in this movie. 

I'm sorry this review isn't any longer but I really don't have a whole lot to say about it. I can't compare it with the book, which seems to be the biggest problem that others have with this TV movie. I thought the acting was reasonable, but the movie itself was nothing special. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. 

My personal rate: 6/10

Review: The Frighteners (1996)

The Frighteners 

IMDB rate: 7,2

Genre: Ghost, Comedic

Another Netflix ghost movies! This time it's a bit different though because The Frighteners is also a very funny movie. This movie is from 1996 but when I watched it I could swear it was a lot older. I'm not sure if they made it look older on purpose or if it's not on purpose, but anyway, I thought the movie was a lot older. 

I don't think this will be a very long review, there's not a whole lot to say I think. 

After a car accident in which his wife, Debra, was killed and he was injured, Frank Bannister develops psychic abilities allowing him to see, hear and communicate with ghosts. After losing his wife, he then gave up his job as an architect, letting his unfinished "dream house" sit incomplete for years, and put these skills to use by befriending a few ghosts and getting them to haunt houses in the area to drum up work for his ghostbusting business; Then Frank proceeds to "exorcise" the houses for a fee. But when he discovers that an entity resembling the Grim Reaper is killing people, marking numbers on their forehead beforehand, Frank tries to help the people whom the reaper is after. 

Michael J. Fox plays the role of Frank Bannister, and this is actually his last leading role in a movie. After this he only did very small parts or TV shows. I am a big fan of Michael J. Fox actually, of course, after seeing Back to the Future, who isn't a big fan of him? Great movies. His character are often the same though as when he was Marty McFly. A funny guy whose also clumsy and clever. I like these roles of him, although they do get a bit boring after awhile. Even in Spin City he was this guy. Anyway, no complains on his acting. He did a good job in this movie I thought. I wasn't too crazy about Trini Alvarado, I'm not familiar with her other acting but in The Frighteners she was a bit fake. She just tried a bit too hard. 

The ghosts in this movie aren't very real looking, I think they're quite crappy looking actually. But in a movie like this it doesn't really matter, because it's not seriously meant anyway. I think this movie is much like The Haunted Mansion, it has the same comedic twist and also the same style of ghosts and stuff. I always loved the watch The Haunted Mansion when I was a kid, and I think if I would've seen this movie when I was that age that I would love it as well. The Frighteners is a bit a family horror movie I think, although it does contain a bit more bloody scenes compared with The Haunted Mansion.

Peter Jackson is the director of this movie by the way, I think it's really fun to see his switch from horror movies like Braindead and The Frighteners to big Hollywood movies such as The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit (and for some reason he made this crap movie called The Lovely Bones in between).  

The Frighteners is a fun family horror movie. The performance of Michael J. Fox is amazing as usual, he really carries this movie. The special effects weren't too great, the ghost were quite fake looking and a bit over the top ghost like, but I wasn't really bothered with it, because it fits the movie. I definitely liked it. 

My personal rate: 7/10

Review: The Awakening (2011)

The Awakening

IMDB rate: 6,5

Genre: Ghost

Another Netflix title, and another movie that wasn't too bad. Really, when I go to the cinema to watch a horror movie they're almost always shit but the last couple I watched on Netflix were all quite good. The ghost genre isn't really my favorite one to watch, but coincidently I watched a shit load the last couple of days. I didn't really intend to, but well... it happened, so expect a lot more ghost movie reviews the next couple of days. 

So, let's talk about The Awakening! I wasn't really sure what I expected from this movie. I never watched a trailer (not watching trailers is the best protection against high expectations I think) so well, I had no idea what this movie was about. I only read the three sentenced description on Netflix but that still didn't tell me a whole lot about what to expect.

In 1921, England is overwhelmed by the loss and grief of World War I. Hoax exposer Florence Cathcart visits a boarding school to explain sightings of a child ghost. Everything she believes unravels as the 'missing' begin to show themselves. 

What I found very remarkable at the beginning of this movie was how they pictured Rebecca's Hall character. The movie is set in the 1920's and we have a sort of vision about woman from that time, they're often housewives who are neatly dressed and stuff. But this was absolutely not how Rebecca's Hall character was pictured, you immediately saw that she was a strong independent woman. This was most noticable in her clothes, every woman in the movie wore dresses or skirts while she often wore pants. Perhaps a great misinterpretation on my side, but I thought it was notable.

I thought Rebecca Hall was a great choice by the way for the role of Florence Cathcart, I think she's a very cool actress and her roles are always remarkable. The strong woman part that I describer earlier also fitted greatly with her I thought. Dominic West did a good, but not outstanding, job as portraying Robert Mallory. I was a bit weirded out about seeing Imelda Staunton playing a nice role, since I obviously only know her in a role as Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter movie, where she isn't very kind. Obviously, she did a great job playing in this movie as well as in Harry Potter. Another fun face to see was the young Isaac Hempstead Wright, who plays Bran Stark in Game of Thrones. He was very adorable in this movie, I think he's quite a good actor. I'm hoping to see more of him in the future. 

The movie itself is quite standard. Finding the ghost that terrorizes people with someone who doesn't believe in ghosts. Only to find out eventually that she was wrong all the time, because there obviously is a ghost. Some parts are a bit far-fetched in this movie. The end conclusion for example, WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD, I can't imagine that no one else but Maud caught her talking to the little boy. The last scene was a bit weird. I think they wanted to give the impression that she was dead, while they also wanted you to think that she was still alive. They didn't really do this in a very smart way, because it wasn't mysterious at all, and in the end you still know which one it is. 

It isn't a very original movie, but it is a fun movie to watch. It's not filled with plot holes, which is always a nice thing, and the acting is quite good. There aren't really scares in this movie, especially because the ghost has a blurry face. It's not a very scary face. The Awakening is a fun movie, nothing special, but nothing bad either. I say that a lot about the last few Netflix films I watched, I know, but it's just the way it is. I wasn't bored while watching it, although I wasn't impressed with it either. 

My personal rate: 6,5/10

Review: Odd Thomas (2013)

Odd Thomas

Genre: Ghost, Comedic

IMDB rate: 6,8

I finally found a way to access the American Netflix as of yesterday and WOW, what a huge amount of horror movies does it offer! Seriously, in the Dutch version of Netflix we have perhaps 20 movies and it's all movies that I've already seen. But the American version offers so incredibly much interesting (but also a couple very bad) movies. Even the TV shows that it offers are so much more interesting. Anyway, I'm trying to watch a shit-load of horror movies on Netflix, so expect a whole lot of reviews ;). 

I just started with this first movie on the list that I haven't seen yet, which was the movie Odd Thomas. I had no idea what it was about, nor did I do any research for it. I knew the guy on the cover of course, Anton Yelchin, and he plays in quite a few good movies. 

Small-town fry cook Odd Thomas is an ordinary guy with a paranormal secret: he sees dead people, everywhere. When a creepy stranger shows-up with an entourage of ghostly bodachs -predators who feed on pain and portend mass destruction - Odd knows that his town is in serious trouble. Teaming up with his sweetheart Stormy and the local sheriff, Odd plunges into an epic battle of good vs evil to try to stop a disaster of apocalyptic proportions. 

Odd Thomas is an interesting movie I thought. The storyline wasn't very renewing or anything, but it still was a fun watch. It has a slight comedic twist, I think it's a bit comparable with the sarcastic undertone of Warm Bodies. The storyline is quite standard really, a guy who sees ghosts saves people by following ghosts, a slight twist to this are the bodachs. These bodachs are quite awesome looking, a bit solid water like. Their body is almost invisible, like water, but it's also solid. It really looks awesome. 

The acting is very good, I think Anton Yelchin is a very good young actor and I'm very excited to see him in more movies in the future. He plays such a good role in one of my favorite movies, Alpha Dog, and while this movie is completely different, his acting is still very good. Willem Dafoe also plays quite a big role in this movie, I think it's a very different role from what we usually see him in, but that's actually quite nice, this role fitted him well.

The filming is done very nicely, it fastens through unimportant parts and slows down at epic moments. It was a very comfortable way of watching things.

The movie is a bit slow at times, it's sometimes very difficult to keep interested because somehow the point of the movie doesn't come across very clearly. Well, you know the point of the movie of course, but it's difficult to keep focused on it for some reason. There's a whole lot of cheesy romance going on between Odd and Stormy, which might become annoying (or cute, whatever you like).

While the first half is nice, but hard to keep interested to, the second half gets a lot better. It actually became kinda tensive when Odd had to race against the clock to stop the bad guys. I do wish they did more with these bodach creatures though, they were so awesome but hardly had any use for the movie. I mean, Odd probably would have figured things out as well just by his dream, I think.
The ending was pretty sad, and to be honest, a few tears were spilled.

It's a good movie. It's not very scary but it's a fun watch. It's also quite standard but well, it's nice enough to like it. The acting was pretty good and so were the special effects.

My personal rate: 6/10

Review: Haunter (2013)

Haunter

IMDB rate: 5,9

Genre: Ghost

Another Netflix title that seemed kinda interesting. First of all, the subtitles were very annoying so I might have missed a few things. This isn't the fault of the movie of course, it's just a heads up.

A teenager is stuck in a time loop that is not quite the same each time. She must uncover the truth but her actions have consequences for herself and others.

Time loop movies are very hard to make I think, mostly because it's terribly difficult to keep the viewers interested with watching the same thing over and over again. In Haunter we watch the first scene repeat itself over and over again, but sometimes small things were changing. Now, it wasn't really interesting when there were only small changes because the rest of the scene will still be the same. The movie became interesting when the scene changed drastically. The set-up was pretty much the same but the content in it was very different. It became interesting because you were curious about the cause of this change of events.

I was glad when the scene finally changed, but the next scene quickly became the same as usual again, this time I wasn't bored though, because I was interested in what caused the previous change of events. This time loop seems to be a different thing from the hauntings going on at night, but after awhile you figure out that it is connected.

Haunter is definitely not a standard ghost movie, first of all because they are stuck in a time loop and second of all the family we're following are the ghosts. We won't find out why though until the end. It's a bit comparable with Beetlejuice at points, because at first they think they're being haunted while actually it's the other way around.

Abigail Breslin plays a 15 year old girl and for the first time I wasn't very impressed with her. I loved her in a lot of movies but it looked like she was trying a bit too hard in this movie. I liked her in Zombieland and even in Little Miss Sunshine, but I thought she was a bit overacting in this movie. The other actors were only decent as well. Nothing special, but nothing bad either. 

The movie has a pretty dark vibe over it, although you wouldn't expect it at first. There were even a few jump scares, and boy, did they surprise me... Haunter seems to be a mash-up of different movies, such as Amityville Horror, Sixth Sense and Coraline. At some moments it even reminded me of A Nightmare on Elmstreet and The Lovely Bones. It's not a bad mash-up though, it's an interesting concept although you need to keep your attention to it the entire movie. 

The movie might be confusing at moments, but it really is worth a watch. It's not a bad movie. The movie keeps you thinking of what is going on, and I'm pretty sure you'll change your thoughts through the movie. The ending was a bit cheesy but it's still a pretty decent ghost movie.

My personal rate: 6,5/10

Review: Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)

Insidious: Chapter 2

IMDB rate: 6,7

Genre: Ghost, Possession

I finally watched Insidious: Chapter 2 some time ago. I was never really a fan of Insidious, and I don't think I liked Insidious 2 a whole lot. The movie isn't bad or anything, the acting is very good and so are the special effects and stuff. I'm just not very keen on the storyline. I thought it was confusing but perhaps I understood things wrong.

Now excuse me if I'm wrong with a few happenings in the movie, at the point of writing this it has already been quite some time that I watched this movie. I might be wrong with remembering small facts and stuff, so sorry in advance!

First of all, amazing scares as usual. There were a few jump scares, and they were quite good. I do think that the scares are definitely less good compared with Chapter 1, but it's still good enough. The scares in this movie were a lot more obvious and predictable, so that's quite a shame. Still, they weren't bad. The atmosphere wasn't very tensive like other James Wan movies, that's something I definitely missed in this movie. I wasn't a big fan of the movie The Conjuring, but the atmosphere was definitely unsettling enough in that movie.

The acting is very good. I'm not a huge fan of Patrick Wilson, but his acting performances in the Insidious movies are very good. His role got a lot more depth in this movie so that's definitely a good improvement in this movie. His acting skills really showed off great with this type of character. I like Rose Byrne as an actress, but in this movie she was kinda annoying, definitely not her best performance. Another excellent thing in this movie was the younger version of Elise, played by Lindsay Seim, she looked so much like the older Elise (Lin Shaye). Real good casting!

The thing with Insidious that I dislike a lot is the storyline. I just don't like the things happening, it's weird, unreal and just confusing. I thought the first Insidious movie was confusing and I hoped the second chapter would clear things up, but of course, it just made things more confusing.
The parts when the people are in the ghost world are just laughable. It looks terrible and the scares are definitely not scary anymore in this scene.

I think that my opinion about the first Insidious movie is that it was a 'decent' movie, the sequel doesn't live up to it unfortunately. I think these movies start to look a lot like Paranormal Activity, and well, we all know that those movies didn't get better with each part. Of course, there will be another sequel and I'm afraid that it won't be any better than this. The opinions about Insidious Chapter 2 are very combined, some love it, some hate it. I personally am not a fan of these movies. The acting is great, the scares are okay at best but I just really hate the storyline. It's rubbish.

My personal rate: 5,5/10

Review: White Noise (2005)

White Noise

IMDB rate: 5,5

Genre: Ghost

I was pretty amazed by the fact that this movie was made already 9 years ago! I was convinced that this movie was perhaps 4 or 5 years old, but my memories fooled me. Does this mean I'm getting older? 

Doesn't mind, a few weeks ago I watched White Noise for perhaps the fifth time. It's strange but when I'm visiting a second hand market and there's somebody who sells DVD's, 9 out of 10 people is selling this DVD. It's strange how many people own this DVD, or actually... it's strange how many people want to get rid of this DVD.

When I first watched this movie I loved it. I thought it was absolutely amazing and even slightly frightening. After seeing it a couple of times it does become a bit boring though, especially the ending is not really good I think. Other than that I think it's especially an interesting movie. It contains very interesting subjects that even has the possibility to be true. The subject is very original and that's probably what keeps me interested in this movie.

First thing that's good about this movie is the acting. Michael Keaton, an amazing actor, plays Jonathan Rivers who just lost his wife. His wife is trying to communicate with him through EVP. His reactions to this are very understandable. At first he's of course hesitant about this EVP stuff, when things start to happen he gets curious and gets dragged into the whole EVP world. His breakdowns are very believable and so are his change of reactions. I was a bit disappointed though by his reactions towards his son, he could've been a bit nicer to him. But of course, this isn't Michael Keaton's fault, it's just the script.

Anna Rivers is played by Chandra West. Since she dies very quickly we don't get to see much of her, besides some vague EVP ghost thing shots, and the things she says are being soft spoken or repeated very often. Can't say much about her acting and stuff since she's hardly in the movie, even though she's the biggest point of interest. Deborah Kara Unger plays Jonathan's new friend Sarah Tate. To be honest, I was incredibly bothered by her bad acting performances. Her face is as emotionless as Kristen Stewart's and her acting wasn't very convincing. She tried too hard.

I thought there were a few reasonable scares in there, especially in the beginning there are some good jump scares that made me jump of the couch even though I saw the movie many times already. The EVP looks cool as well, although I'm not very convinced that this could ever be a real thing (but who knows?).

I think this movie has quite some potential to be scary. Like I already said, there are quite some good scares and you will get automatically uncomfortable because of the subject. It plays with your mind somehow. The beginning is build up exactly right in my opinion, the third half of the film though suddenly goes very quick which causes a lot of confusion for the end part of the film. That was a bit disappointing actually. The writing could've been improved on some points, but overall I think that White Noise is just a decent, perhaps slightly good, horror movie.

My personal rate: 6/10

Review: The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia (2013)

The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia

IMDB rate: 5,2

Genre: Ghost

I think it's been a month already since when I last watched this movie. I was a bit busy with school and the time I had spare I never really wanted to write a review about this movie...
I never really was a fan of the first Haunting in Connecticut, although I liked it a bit better compared to this movie. The first half of this movie wasn't too bad, but things suddenly got slow and boring and I started disliking it.

The first thing that's wrong with this movie is it's title, The Haunting in CONNECTICUT, Ghosts of GEORGIA. That are two different states! Just call it The Haunting in Georgia, or just Ghosts of Georgia or something. It wouldn't really matter since the story isn't very relevant to the first movie. Besides the fact that the happenings are happening because of things that happened in the past.

Starting with the acting, it wasn't too great, but not bad either. Abigail Spencer plays Lisa Wyrick, a mother who has the ability to see ghosts but takes medicine to avoid seeing them. She is one of the main characters in the movie and while her acting isn't bad, it's not very convincing. She cares about her daughter but is also very ignorant when her daughter is seeing invisible people (aka, ghosts just like herself).
Lisa's sister Joyce, played by Katee Sackhoff, also has the ability to see ghosts. She's a bit of a comedic relief to the movie, the reactions of Andy Wyrick about her are quite funny and it gives a good twist to the movie. Joyce doesn't mind seeing ghosts and treats it like it's a gift, but she doesn't seem to see them that often actually.

Chad Michael Murray plays Lisa's husband Andy Wyrick. He's quite a decent actor but I don't really like him in a 'family situation' kind of role. He still seems very young (even though he's almost 33 years old) and he would be more suitable for a younger role I think, for example his role in House of Wax.
The main character of this movie is Heidi, the daughter of Lisa and Andy. She's played by Emily Alyn Lind. I know that she's a young actress but I wasn't very crazy about her. The looks on her face were very annoying actually, even when she's happily riding her bike she's looking concerned (and this was before she saw a ghost). Her acting wasn't bad and for most of the movie she was quite well, but the look on her face was just very annoying.

The script wasn't too good. First of all, Heidi's name is called a thousand times in this movie. I never was very crazy about the name 'Heidi' but after this movie you'll easily start disliking it. The fathers job to take care of his daughter isn't being done very well. When stuff is happening he's asking her to stay put while he goes investigating. It's soon very clear that she of course will wander off. Also, when she goes missing he drives maniacally around to search her. This while she can wander on the road or walk from the forest to the street in those few seconds.
What bothered me most was the ending. It was so incredibly boring while those last things happened. It was too slow and too over exaggerated. It was just like that scene in Mirrors where the mirror collapses a thousand times.

The movie immediately shows a lot of ghosts already in the beginning of the movie, while it has it's good sides that things aren't postponed until the very end of the movie, it also has it's bad sides. Because we already witnessed so many ghosts it wasn't scary or surprising anymore. We already saw most of it and it was just waiting for another ghost to show up. It was a bit too much in my opinion.

The acting was quite decent in this movie, the special effects were OK as well. The story was interesting in the beginning but became boring after a while. It definitely doesn't live up to the first Haunting in Connecticut.

My personal rate: 5/10

Review: Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night (2010)

Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night

IMDB rate: 5,3

Genre: Ghost, Found Footage

This will be a short review since I watched this movie quite some time ago already, and I simply forgot to write about it. I think it's worth to write about it though. 

Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night is said to be a sequel to the original Paranormal Activity movie. Unfortunately, besides some small changes it's exactly the same as the original one. Quite ironic actually, since Hollywood remakes every Japanese successful movie, while in this case it's the other way around.

I liked the original Paranormal Activity, it was a welcome change in the genre I think. I know that most people dislike PA but I really thought it was scary at moments. I'm a real baby when it comes to 'paranormal' movies or shows for that matter, I just don't like the idea of invisible things around me. It gets even worse when those things are able to do scary stuff to you.

As I already mentioned, it's practically a remake of the American version, only thing different is that they immediately figure that it must have been a ghost who moved the wheelchair. There's also the typical Japanese vibe to it (not strange of course).
What's also different is that the girl has her legs broken, meaning she can't walk. This makes her extra vulnerable, a nice addition to the movie I think. I was really grossed out when she walked around with her legs all nasty, which is a big plus!

I liked this movie, it had it's scary moments and it had some nice twists compared with the original one. I do like the American version of Paranormal Activity better though. Nevertheless, still a fun movie to watch.

My personal rate: 6/10

Review: Ghost Ship (2002)

Ghost Ship

IMDB rate: 5,4

Genre: Ghost

It often surprises people when I say that I actually like Ghost Ship. Yes indeed, I think it's a nice movie.  Definitely not the best in it's genre, but still very amusing. There's absolutely nothing right about this movie, it's filled with goofs and stuff, but still; I like it. But why?

After discovering a passenger ship missing since 1962 floating adrift on the Bering Sea, salvages claim the vessel as their own. Once they begin towing the ghost ship towards harbor, a series of bizarre occurrences happen and the group becomes trapped inside the ship, which they soon learn is inhabited by  demonic creature.

The cast consisting Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects), Julianna Margulies (ER), Desmond Harrington (Wrong Turn) and Emily Browning (Sucker Punch, The Uninvited) isn't the best cast you can gather.

The most familiar face in this movie is Gabriel Byrne and his acting career isn't at it's top anymore, which isn't very strange after seeing Ghost Ship.
Another familiar face is Emily Browning, perhaps the best known actress at the moment (who is acting in this movie), and to be honest I think this is one of her better performances. In most movies she's quiet and being innocent and stuff, and in wasn't much different in this movie, but for some reason it felt better. Perhaps it was the fact that she played a dead girl that made it seem better, I have no idea.

But if it isn't the acting that made me like this movie, what did?

The storyline is wrong at every point possible, it's partly based on a true story and well.. almost nothing looks like the 'true story'. The characters aren't very interesting, they all seem a bunch of loners on sea.

The movie starts of quite cruel, which makes it rather interesting at first. Starting a movie with a bloodbath? Always a good thing to see, because it keeps you interested for at least awhile.
The scenery of the movie is amazing. The haunted ship looks incredibly cool and so do the costumes. It's really impressive and gives an excellent vibe for the movie.

It's really a shame that the acting and storyline isn't much great because there's so much more potential in this movie. I don't dislike it though, the setting of the movie is incredibly impressive and really lifts up a lot of bad in this movie. Ghost Ship really is a fun movie to watch in my opinion.

My personal rate: 6,5/10

Review: Shutter (2008)

Shutter

IMDB rate: 5,2

Genre: Ghost

I have never seen the original movie unfortunately, I believe it's from Thailand. I'm not too sure what i thought of this movie. It wasn't bad or anything. I even thought it was slightly good. Now, please forgive me but this will be a short review since it has been quite some time already since I saw it. Or well.. I saw it not too long ago but it was too long ago to remember everything about it. I wanted to write this review for such a long time already, but every time I had trouble writing about it. So that's why it's a short review!

A newlywed couple Ben and Jane move to japan for a promising job opportunity - a fashion shoot in Tokyo. During their trip on a dark forest road they experience a tragic car accident, leading to the death of a young local girl. Upon regaining consciousness, they find no trace of her body. A bit distraught the couple arrives in Tokyo to begin their new life. Meanwhile Ben begins noticing strange white blurs in many of his fashion shoot photographs. Jane believes that the blurs are actually spirit photography of the dead girl who they hit on the road, and that she may be seeking vengeance.

I liked it, although it had a few flaws. Such as the actress. Rachael Taylor plays Jane in this movie, and she's not a very good actress I think. It's often as if she waits until she can say her line, more like a play rather than a movie. It was the same in The Darkest Hour, I'm just not too much of a fan of her. I do like Joshua Jackson though, who plays her husband Ben. His acting is a lot more natural.

 Now about the story. I liked how it was set up. Personally I enjoy a ghost movie much more than for example a slasher movie. The story goes a lot deeper in most cases so it's a bit more interesting I think. It was a cool twist to see that the girl haunting them wasn't after Jane, but after Ben. The double body weight and the bruised shoulder was a good adding to what was really happening.

In my opinion the movie was a bit too slow, it was hard to keep focused. Quite a shame really, since the idea of this movie is excellent if you ask me. Also, some scenes are a bit far-fetched. Perhaps I will watch the original movie one day to review that one.

My personal rate: 6,5/10

Review: Thir13een Ghosts (2001)

Thir13een Ghosts

IMDB rate: 5,3

Genre: Ghosts, Haunted House

Thir13een Ghosts is one of those movies that I bought without knowing what it's about. It seemed like an interesting movie but after watching it I mainly thought it was a weird movie. Does not matter though, it's always nice seeing a new movie.

Arthur and his two children, Kathy and Bobby, inherit his Uncle Cyrus's estate: a glass house that serves as a prison to 12 ghosts. When the family, accompanied by Bobby's Nanny and an attorney, enter the house they find themselves trapped inside an evil machine "designed by the devil and powered by the dead" to open the Eye of Hell. Aided by Dennis, a ghost hunter, and his rival Kalina, a ghost rights activist out to set the ghosts free, the group must do what they can to get out of the house alive.

This movie tries to reach a combination between comedy and horror, but fails miserably at it. It's absolutely not funny. I must admit that casting Matthew Lillard is a excellent choice for such a role that (tries to) combine horror and comedy. I like him very much as an actor, in movies such as Scream, Without a Paddle and even Scooby Doo he was amazing. Even though I like him much as an actor, he is often playing the same character. The sarcastic, slightly funny guy.
I'm not very familiar with the other actors in this movie, besides Shannon Elizabeth. I think she's a reasonable actress, who played in a few reasonable movie. But with her it's the same case as with Matthew Lillard, she's always playing the same characters. A bit boring to be honest.

I liked the stories about the ghosts. They looked very scary and there stories were kinda cool too. My friend told me that in the Extras of the DVD there's an even bigger story about them, and I haven't seen it yet but I will check it out eventually. It sounds kinda cool.

The movie itself was not too great. It was very vague and confusing at times. I think the movie had some potential, but was not worked out the right way. What made me dislike this movie mostly were the special effects. To be honest, they looked terrible.

I don't think Thir13een Ghosts is a bad movie. It's just not a movie of my taste I guess.

Quite a short review! I don't have very much to say about this movie I guess. Maybe one day I will watch the Extras of this movie and make a new post about it. I must say that I had trouble concentrating on this movie, so perhaps I will watch it again someday and redo this review.
Thir13een Ghosts is a good concept for a haunted house movie. It's a bit haunted house and a bit futuristic. Quite a cool combination, but for some reason I did not like it very much.

My personal rate: 5/10

Review: American Horror Story [Season 1]

American Horror Story

Season 1

IMDB rate: 8,3

Genre: Haunted House, Ghost, TV Show

It took a while, but I finally decided to buy American Horror Story two weeks ago. I've only watched the pilot before buying it and while it seems like a very weird show, it made me incredibly curious. So, of course I had to buy it so I can watch the rest of the season. Like almost every other TV show, it's addicting as hell. You need to keep watching and it was a good thing that I needed sleep sometimes or else I would have watched all 12 episodes in one day. Also, halfway through my boyfriend started to watch but he was a few episodes behind and I had to re-watch a few episodes to he would catch up with me.

American Horror Story is definitely not a TV show that everyone will enjoy. It has quite a few scary moments, but also an amazing storyline and a few excellent plot twists. What I like about this show is that it's different and takes so many risks with it. Another thing that's different is that each season is entirely different. So season 1 is called Murder House and when the 12 episodes where over, it really came to an end. Season 2 is an entirely different setting and has a different cast (well, maybe not a different cast but they play different people I believe). This is very original and I'm quite excited to start watching it.

The acting in this TV show is simply brilliant. Dylan McDermott plays Ben Harmon, his wife Vivien is played by Connie Britton and their daughter Violet is played by Taissa Farmiga. They play the family Harmon just brilliant, you really notice the tension between everyone. Vivien hates Ben for what he did and Ben searches for forgiveness. Vivien is the typical teenager but with a dark twist.
One of the other main characters is Tate played by Evan Peters. Personally he's my favorite character in the entire show, even though he's a real bastard sometimes. His acting is simply brilliant. It does not matter if he's being psycho, sweet, normal or sarcastic; it's all perfect.
The neighbor of the Harmon's is Constance Langdon, played by Jessica Lange. Another one who is mainly evil but is excellent at it.

Short review of each episode, I tried avoiding giving any spoilers!

Season 1, episode 1: Pilot

Obviously, this was the first episode I watched. I did not know what to expect. When I finished watching this episode I was like 'WTF?!'. It was kinda a lot of information for just one episode and even though I had a huge WTF feeling, I was curious about it. I think this episode is an excellent start. Showing the drama and horror immediately. Also introducing almost every cast member of this season. Telling the story of the family. It was all done in this episode and like I said, it's a lot of information. It was brilliantly done, I just had to order the series on DVD immediately. 

Season 1, episode 2: Home Invasion

A very weird episode. But also a very good one. I think I've had this feeling with every episode this far. Weird, but good. Maybe a bit of an unbelievable story, but it had some good elements in it. Personally I liked this episode the least.

Season 1, episode 3: Murder House

I love how you learn episode by episode a new story about the house. More details are being revealed but still not enough to know everything yet. Also there are coming more and more questions. I really start to dislike Hayden in this episode and I think that she became an useless addition the cast now I've seen every episode.

Season 1, episode 4: Halloween pt. 1
Sad episode, but a good one. I love the story about the first residents of the house. You knew parts already but not yet the entire story. I like how the death can walk around on Halloween, I watched this episode twice and only the second time I understood the whole thing. Everybody is trapped! It was only now that I realized this.

Season 1, episode 5: Halloween pt. 2
Another excellent episode. It's a follow up for Halloween pt. 1 and some parts were a bit more explained but further there were not many additions to the story in this episode.

Season 1, episode 6: Piggy Piggy
More information about Tate! I really like Tate for some reason, even though he's the biggest bastard on the show. The Urban Legend part was a bit stupid since the guy is terrified of Urban legends and he's going to the well known murder house for his therapy, why is he not afraid for the house... Now I finished watching it I wonder why the ultra sound part was important, sure the guy is bad but not the devil.

Season 1, episode 7: Open House
I would have liked to know a bit more about the monster child but I think that the mystery also gives a nice touch. I also would like to know who Constance's fourth child is but unfortunately you never see him or her. Good episode.

Season 1, episode 8: Rubber Man
Huge shock for me to find out who the Rubber Man is. That's what I love in this show, it haves so many surprises. A typical ghost episode, which is very interesting since there hasn't been an episode like this one before. It shows a bit more of the abilities of the ghosts.

Season 1, episode 9: Spooky Little Girl
I'm not sure what use the addition of Mena Suvari's character was, I did not find it interesting. Also, a very cool twist is what happens to Vivien's baby's. Did not see that one coming. But after hearing what could happen in a case like this, I would have expected a different ending.

Season 1, episode 10: Smoldering Children
My favorite episode of this season. You've heard so many stories about Larry's scars and finally you learn the truth. And then, the biggest plot twist of the entire season. I was devastated when I found out but it was also an excellent twist.

Season 1, episode 11: Birth
This episode is more to tie all the knots together. Most secrets are being revealed and Vivien is getting her babies. There are not too many special things in this episode but it's a nice episode to watch.

Season 1, episode 12: Afterbirth
I expected much from this episode; the ultimate ending but that was not what I got. Afterwards I did not find that frustrating anymore because the way it ended was actually beautiful too. Everyone is happy now. Afterwards you see the a quick look of 'a repeating past'. Personally, I liked the way it ended, this way you can think for yourself what happens next.

I really recommend watching this show, especially as a horror fan. This show has the excellent mix between drama and horror. Filled up with an impressive soundtrack and excellent acting. American Horror Story is full of surprises. American Horror Story does not feel as an TV show, it feels like a movie chopped into pieces. This is excellent because it's too much information to be given in a movie. Putting it all in a TV show gives people a break from watching. I would not have liked it if it was a movie because it would be too standard I think. 

I was very curious about the rest of the season after I finished the Pilot, I suggest you start watching it too because I'm almost a 100% sure you will enjoy it!

My personal rate: 9,5/10