Parasite (2019)

Parasite

Starring: Kang-Ho Song, Sun-kyun Lee, Yeo-jeong Jo and Woo-sik Choi
Director: Boon Joon Ho
IMDb rate: 8,6
My rate: 9

It's been released for awhile by now, and originally I posted this review in Dutch for my work. However, to keep this site alive I thought it might be time to translate it and show you my thoughts on Parasite. 

About Parasite: 
The movie tells the story of two Korean families: the poor Kim-family and the rich Park-family. The Kim's live at the bottom of the hill in a small, dirty house that regularly floods with rain. The Park family, on the other hand, lives at the top of the hill in a gigantic luxury villa. By coincidence, teenage son Kim Ki-woo gets a chance to tutor the daughter of the Parks. The luxurious life of the Park is very attractive to the Kims and Kim Ki-woo thinks of a plan to help his father, mother and sister also find jobs at the Parks. By means of lies and manipulation, the Kims, like a parasite, manage to penetrate the life of the Park family.

Parasite is the winner of some prestigious awards. It is the first Korean film to win the Golden Palm. The film has also won four Oscars, including best film of the year.

Like Boon Joon Ho's previous films, Parasite is filled with socio-political critiques of the torn class society. It gives a penetrating look at the differences between higher and lower classes and how these differences drive people to dispair to work themselves up to a higher class. The difference in height between the homes of both families is therefore no coincidence but instead represents a strong symbolic contrast between the economic inequality between the two families. While the way the Kims infiltrate the house of the Parks feels like a comic event, the film quickly turns into a grim tragedy in the second half.

The character are realistic and do not become stereotypes. For example, the poor people aren't being overly romanticized. Are they good people? No. Are they bad people? Also no. They are simply flawed human beings trying to survive. The Park also are not demonized as a wealthy high bourgeoisie. They are neat and seemingly likeable people. This ensures that Parasite has no bad guys and the characters remain in a morally gray area.

Parasite is an unpredictable mix of satire, black comedy and tragedy. It is a visual masterpiece and an absolute must-see for this year.

The Babadook (2014)

 The Babadook

IMDB rate: 6,9

Genre: Drama

Starring: Essie Davis, Daniel Henshall

A few weeks ago I read an article about a very well known horror movie director (shamefully, I can't remember who it was, but trust me if I tell you he is well known), who thought The Babadook was one of the scariest movies he had ever seen. Coming from this director I thought it was definitely something worth checking out. I had no idea what The Babadook was about, but the poster looked promising. 

What The Babadook is about:

Amelia who lost her husband in a car crash on the way to the give birth to Samuel, their only kid, struggles to cope with her fate as a single mom. Samuel's constant fear of monsters and his violent reaction to overcome the fear doesn't help her cause either which makes her friends distance themselves. When things can not get any worse, they read a strange book in their house that talks about the 'Babadook' monster that hides in the dark areas of their house. Even Amelia seems to feel the effect of Babadook and desperately tries to destroy the book, but in vain! The nightmarish experiences the two encounter form the rest of the story.

I wouldn't necessarily say that The Babadook is a very scary movie, there are no jump scares at all and every time something does tend to happen, it doesn't exactly reach that scary point. I would more say that The Babadook is a psychological horror movie. It's a very sad movie. I think it's a bit comparable with We Need To Talk About Kevin, only I thought this movie was more exciting.

Unlike other horror movies this one isn't infested with fear and terror of the unknown creature, there's also a human element in it; that of a mother who is on the edge of losing her mind after losing her husband, dealing with her somewhat crazy son and with this unknown creature called The Babadook. 

I also want to add that I admire the actress Essie Davis tons for this movie, she did an amazing acting job. Her depression, anxiety, fear and slowly shifting madness are all very well shown. You can't help but feel incredibly sorry for the poor woman. Daniel Henshall plays her son, not really sure what to think of him to be honest. At some moments I thought he was good, but at times I also thought that he wasn't very good. Sometimes when he was mad or sad, it was almost as if he was smiling. A bit of an annoying character as well, very loud and asking for attention all the time. 

Small spoiler alert!

I must admit that when I finished watching it I wasn't exactly sure what to think of the ending. It just didn't feel right. I don't have much imagination, so I searched IMDB for some explanations. I found tons of interesting explanations, the most interesting one being that Amelia is the one who wrote the book, this is because she already told that she wrote children's books and when she arrived at the police station her hands were black. The Babadook stands for all the problems she and her son have, and they have to conquer them together, or die together. The Babadook eventually living in peace in their basement could mean that they learned to live with their past.

With this being said, I think it's clear that this movie shouldn't be viewed as just another horror movie of a family that gets haunted by a creature. I did watch it like that and that will make the ending look stupid and unsatisfying, while in reality it's something to think about. I would say it's a bit comparable with The Orphanage. 

When I first watched this movie I must admit that I did not like it a whole lot, mostly because of the ending. I started looking around for more information about the movie and it gave me a whole new perspective of the movie which made me like it a whole lot more. Great acting and incredibly terrifying pictures in The Babadook-book.

My rate: 7,5/10

Bates Motel [Season 2]

Bates Motel

Season 2

IMDB rate: 8,2

Genre: Thriller, Serial Killer

Starring: Freddie Highmore, Vera Farmiga, Max Thieriot

A while ago I finally finished season 2 of Bates Motel. It's a bit crazy because I really like this show a lot, but after I have watched an episode I don't necessarily have the urge to go watch the next episode. I do really love this though.

As you may or may not know, Bates Motel is a prequel to the amazing Psycho. I'm still doubting though that Bates Motel will eventually fully follow the Psycho storyline. Norman Bates is pretty messed up in Bates Motel, but on a different level compared to Psycho. At this point I can't really see him take over his mother after she would die, but perhaps season 3 will give us something different. Who knows.

The storyline is still going different directions compared to Psycho. For example, there's more and more focus on the weed industry and Norman's brother Dylan. There was also a few episodes about Norma's brother who apparently is the father of Dylan, while this is pretty messed up itself there was only just a short focus on that part. Again, perhaps there will be more about it in the next season.

What I did miss this season was focus towards Norman. This season started focusing more on Dylan and Norma, and Norman was more the background story. There was an incredibly annoying character added this season, which was a girl named Cody. She is Norman's new love interest, but she was very annoying and a pretty ungrateful unmannered cunt. Not played by a great actress either. Thankfully she  disappeared at the end of the season. Don't really understand her purpose in Bates Motel.

I still like the actors a lot in Bates Motel, Freddie Highmore is still doing an excellent job playing the eccentric Norman Bates. Vera Farmiga is also still doing an amazing job as Norma Bates, the mother. Overall there weren't many permanent additions to the cast, only a few people who weren't very likable or interesting and whom stayed only a few episodes.

Bates Motel is definitely a fun show to watch, it's tensive and there's a lot happening. Great actors with interesting characters. After watching two seasons of Bates Motel I'm not sure if it will ever become like Psycho. There are only small things that are similar to Psycho such as the names of characters and that Norman loses his mind sometimes. It's a excellent show if it's not a prequel to Psycho, but since it is you keep hoping it will become something more like Psycho, which it isn't so far. I loved these two seasons and I'm hoping season three will be just as good. A bit less Dylan will be appreciated though ;).

Interested in reading my review of season 1? Click here!

Bates Motel (Season 1)

Bates Motel
Season 1

IMDB rate: 8,2

Genre: Thriller, Serial Killer
Starring: Freddie Highmore, Vera Farmiga, Max Thieriot

A while ago I finally watched Psycho for the first time. I actually decided to watch it after I first watched this TV show. Since Bates Motel is actually a prequel to Psycho, I thought it would be useful to watch it sometime. Normally I'm not a big fan of 'old' movies, but Psycho sure as hell amazed me. Actually, I loved Psycho. Just like I love Bates Motel.

I just finished watching the first season and I'm totally in love with it. It really is an amazingly good show. I'm doubting if it will actually follow the storyline of Psycho though. Sure, Norman Bates is a bit messed up, and does have a weird relationship with his mother. But so far it just doesn't seem yet as if it will be just like in Psycho. I hope it does though. The time Psycho is set, the mother of Norman Bates is dead for 10 years already, meaning at this moment it's not even near to what it should be eventually.

The TV show is starting to focus on other things besides Norman Bates, such as his brother who is in the weed industry. I've never seen one of the sequels to Psycho, nor read the book, so correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think he is having a brother, nor is the town he lives in still standing because of the weed industry in Psycho. Because of these sidetracks in Bates Motel I'm really wondering if it will actually follow the storyline of Psycho someday, I sure hope it does.

At the moment of typing this I'm halfway through season 2, the focus is going a bit more towards the mother and the brother, and less on Norman. But well, haven't finished it yet, so I'll let you know in the next review how season 2 turned out to be ;).

Bates Motel obviously isn't set in the 60's like Psycho, it does have the modern twist with cellphones and stuff like that. But something that's pretty significant is the way the Bates' are dressed and stuff. They also have cellphones, but they're dressed as if they're in the 60's most of the time. Just like Norma's car, which is an older car compared to the rest.

The thing I'm most amazed about is Freddie Highmore as Norman Bates. He is an amazing actor, of course he played in many big movies when he was younger such as August Rush (one of my favorites), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Finding Neverland.
As you know, I first watched Bates Motel and after that I watched Psycho. I was pretty amazed by the similarity between Freddie Highmore and Anthony Perkins. Their whole way of acting and facial expressions is the same, I think Freddie Highmore is a great choice for the role of Norman Bates.
Vera Farmiga plays Norman Bates' mother Norma Bates, and well, I can't really tell you how she is in Psycho, because of you-know-what, but I do like the chemistry between her and Freddie Highmore. They both act incredibly well as mother and son with an odd relationship. She's a great actress, I think she's a great choice for this role.

I wouldn't necessarily say that I have one specific favorite episode, they're pretty much all ending with a small twist which makes you eager to watch the next episode. They're all really good though, and I would definitely recommend watching this show. Fan of Psycho or not, it's worth a watch.

My rate: 8,5/10

Interested in reading my review of Psycho? Click this link!

Review: Red State (2011)

Red State

IMDB rate: 6,2

Genre: Thriller

I was always quite interested in watching the movie Red State, mainly because the DVD cover looks pretty awesome. I found it on Netflix so of course I had to give it a go. First of all, Red State is absolutely not what I expected it to be. It's not really a horror movie, more a thriller. It's funny because I  see this DVD often in stores but I never noticed that Kevin Smith is the director/writer of Red State. I'm a big fan of Kevin Smith's comedy movies, such as Clerks and Dogma. As you can imagine, Red State is absolutely nothing like either of his previous movies. I think Dogma is somewhat close to Red State because of it's religious theme, but besides that it's completely different. 

The teenager Jarod (Kyle Gallner) invites his best friends Travis (Michael Angarano) and Billy-Ray (Nicholas Braun) to have a foursome with a thirty-eight year-old woman. While driving to meet the woman, Travis hit a car parked on the road. When they meet the woman, she gives spiked beer to them and they pass out. When the three friends wake up, they find that they are trapped in the fundamentalist Five Points Trinity Church of the infamous Pastor Abin Cooper (Michael Parks) and that they will be killed. Meanwhile the church is under siege by ATF agents led by Agent Joseph Keenan (John Goodman) that have been ordered to destroy the terrorist cell. Will the teenagers be saved by the agents of the law enforcement agency?

Like I already said, I wouldn't really consider Red State to be a horror movie. It's more an action thriller. I think you might consider it a horror movie at heart. The beginning even starts of like it's a horror movie, but then it quickly changes in a thriller. Perhaps the horror element is in the religion or something? It's something that could really happen with these insane religious cults, which makes it somewhat scary. Other than that, not really a horror movie. 

Kevin Smith is well known for his dialogues, although his dialogues normally have a comedic/sarcastic twist. In Red State there is plenty of dialogue too, bit it's a lot more serious this time. Because of this it made me think of Quentin Tarantino movies sometimes, although these dialogues haven't reached the Tarantino level yet. I like that Kevin Smith makes his actor talk about what happened, instead of showing it. Makes you think a bit more as a viewer.

The acting in Red State is pretty good. Michael Angarano (Almost Famous), Nicholas Braun (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) and Kyle Gallner (Jennifer's Body, The Haunting in Connecticut) play a bunch of horny teens. They're all great actors, but I'm personally a big fan of Kyle Gallner. He plays in a bunch of horror movies, and I love him in every single one. John Goodman (The Big Lebowski) and Stephen Root (Office Space) play the cops. Both great actors, although Stephen Root's role is fairly small. The big star of this movie is of course Michael Parks (Kill Bill, Django Unchained), who plays the scary pastor Abin Cooper. He has a shitload of dialogue, but since he's no stranger to Tarantino movies, I think he's quite used to that. He plays his role incredibly convincing, which is probably the most scary part of this movie. A bit of a side notice: I thought he looked incredibly much like Bryan Cranston in this movie. 

This movie was very different than what I expected from it, but I did like it a lot. The acting is just incredibly good, and so it the storyline. I just re-watched the trailer and I still got excited by it although I already saw the movie. Even when I finally figured out the way this movie was going to be, I still was surprised by how it ended. The ending could've been totally different, and still be interesting. Red State is definitely very different from Kevin Smith's other work, but I like it. 

My personal rate: 8/10

Review: Se7en (1995)

Se7en

IMDB rate: 8,7

Genre: Thriller, Serial Killer

Se7en is one of my all time favorite movies, I've seen it a billion times already and it still gives me goosebumps. Brilliant acting performances by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, and of course Kevin Spacey. 

Perhaps Se7en isn't a right movie for a horror blog, but I think it's definitely worth writing at least a bit about it. It's very unsettling and it contains some dark images. 

Se7en is inventive and shocking, it's brutal and dark, and it's damn well-written. It has a perfect combination between a visual style that's very dark, amazing acting and some good plot-development. The first time I watched it, I was shocked by this movie, but I also loved it because it was this shocking. It's just incredibly good! Also, very unsettling soundtrack, perfect fitting by this movie.

It starts of like any detective movie: somebody died and they need to find out who did it. When another person dies they figure out that the cases are connected. There are seven sins, and there will be seven punishments, meaning there will still be 5 other murders. 

Now, this is all very standard and still doesn't seem very outstanding (story-wise). But things get really surprising near the end, and that ending makes it 

That Brad Pitt is an amazing actor is already know. His roles in Snatch, Fight Club and Se7en aren't even slightly comparable, but he did amazing jobs in all of them. I think his character in Se7en is very under-appreciated. He's a pissed off guy and seems to have some difficulties with controlling his anger. Thus making his task at the end of the movie very difficult. 

There's not a whole lot more that I can say about this movie. I really loved every bit of it, there's nothing I can think of that bothered me in this movie. Great job David Fincher, you've made a true masterpiece.

My personal rating: 10/10

Review: Monsters (2010)

Monsters

IMDB rate: 6,4

Genre: Science-Fiction, Drama

First of all, Monsters is definitely not a horror movie. So this review probably won't be very long. I'm not quite sure what I expected from this movie, but I think I at least expected a tiny bit more action. Monsters is more a drama/thriller movie that just contains a few creatures.

Six years ago NASA discovered the possibility of alien life within our solar system. A probe was launched to collect samples, but crashed upon re-entry over Central America. Soon after, new life form began to appear and half of Mexico was quarantined as an INFECTED ZONE. Today, the American and Mexican military still struggle to contain "the creatures"... Our story begins when a US journalist agrees to escort a shaken tourist through the infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the US border.

The first half of the movie isn't very interesting, it's more about the growing relationship of the journalist and the girl, and their private life problems. It was very slow and not too interesting, I really was waiting for a bit action. So when they finally go to the infected zone, I was expecting quite a bit from it.  Unfortunately, besides a short monster invasion, nothing happened. This 'short' monster invasion might sound interesting, but really it wasn't. You see nothing of what happens, all you know is that suddenly almost everyone is dead. 

In the entire movie you see almost nothing of the creatures, besides that they have tentacles. This can go two ways; it might keep it interesting of what it is what attacks them, or it just becomes boring because for all we know it's a kitten with tentacles. At first I thought it was interesting to keep the monsters a secret, but after a while it became a bit too obvious 'camera-avoiding'. 

It was only until the last scene that we saw the creatures pretty clear, and I think they were having sex (tentacle sex, very japan like), so it was a bit awkward. 

The creatures reminded me a bit of the War of the Worlds creatures, combined with one of the huge monsters from The Mist. 

What's most interesting about this movie were the images. The movie is filmed amazingly, really beautiful images. It was a bit indie like, I think. There was a bit of a brown filter over the movie, which made it look a bit 'artsy'. The movie itself wasn't much special, but it was shot very beautifully. The creatures were hardly seen, so that was a huge budget saving. 

I'm not really sure what to say about this movie. Part of me liked the difference compared with other monster movies. It's a calm movie, in a messed up world. Perhaps it's a good difference that this movie isn't hollywood action filled? I'm not sure. Part of me hoped for a bit action in this movie, since the setting was amazing. The story is good too, and I think that an action movie could have worked good with this concept as well. 

I think this movie might be entertaining if you're not expecting too much from it. It's really just a drama movie that just happens to contain a few alien creatures. It's a very slow movie and there's not a whole lot going on, so I'm very sure that not everyone will like it. I liked the concept of the movie, and especially the amazing images, but the movie itself was slow and a bit of a disappointment. 

My personal rate: 6/10

Review: Los últimos días (The Last Days) (2013)

Los últimos días

IMDB rate: 6,0

Genre: Post-Apocalyptic, Thriller

The Last Days is hardly a horror movie, but it is an interesting post-apocalypse movie. In The Last Days there's suddenly an invisible virus going around that causes great fear at everyone on the planet to go outside. Basically it's an extreme form of agoraphobia. 

Beware, there are a few spoilers below.

A mysterious epidemic spreads across the planet. Humanity develops an irrational fear of open spaces that causes instant death. Soon, the world population is trapped inside buildings. As Barcelona descends into chaos, Marc sets off on a quest to find Julia, his missing girlfriend, without ever going outside.

Now with invisible viruses it's difficult to keep you're attention to a movie I think, especially with this movie since we've only witnessed one case that did go outside with his extreme agoraphobia. It's pretty much in the beginning of the movie and the guy was dragged outside. He was resisting so his adrenaline was very high, it wasn't too weird that he was actually scared to death. From this point on we never saw a mutual case again, at least not in the extreme form in which they died. 

The main character in this movie, Marc, only tried to go outside once and indeed he had trouble breathing. So for his mission he goes into the sewers to search for his girlfriend. And when he finds her, she's apparently across the street, where he can't reach her through the sewers. So he's forced outside, and while he has difficulties with breathing, eventually he makes it. Now I wonder what would happen if he would hold his breath and started to run? It's seems much easier. 

What I missed most in this movie were reasons behind all this. Why did all this happen? It started in Canada apparently, we know this from a video where a boy says that if that video would ever be released, it would happen to everyone. So it's some sort of spoken word virus? Is it in the air? I really have no idea where it came from and I think that's a shame. It would be very interesting to know more reasons behind the virus. 

It's not that the people are entirely afraid for the outside, because they can stand in open windows and in door openings. A better explanation would have been more satisfying.

The ending was a bit overdramatic, and in my opinion, a bit lame. While the movie takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where there are the predictable troubles it's actually a bit of a romantic movie. Sure, it has it's tensive moments, but not in a horror way. It wasn't scary in any way. 

It's an original movie, that's for sure. But the reasons behind it were too vague, better explanations would have been a huge improvement for this movie. The movie reminded me a bit of The Happening, since that's also something invisible. 

My personal rate: 6/10

Review: Hard Candy (2005)

Hard Candy

IMDB rate: 7,2

Genre: Thriller, Torture

Probably the third time that i watched Hard Candy. The first time I watched it I disliked it a bit, it's a very slow movie. Now, a few years later I'm still a bit annoyed by the slowness of it but I do like the story. It's very interesting. This will be a short review I think.

After three weeks of chatting with the thirty-two year old photographer Jeff Kohlver over the Internet, fourteen year old Hayley Stark meets him in the Nighthawks coffee show. Hayley flirts with him in spite of the age difference and proposes to go to his house. Once there, she prepares a screwdriver for them and Jeff passes out. When he awakes, he is tied up to a chair, and Hayley accuses him of pedophilia. Jeff denies the accusation, and Hayley begins to torture him in a cat and mouse game.

Since I first watched it I started to grow a slight disliking of Ellen Page and Patrick Wilson, and I never actually figured why I hated them, but when I watched it again last week I knew why. They are both excellent actors in this movie. Patrick Wilson, first a likable man who apparently likes little children. Ellen Page, a girl who isn't as innocent as she looks. Ellen Page's role is a bit annoying, but it's very effective and well, it's obviously acted amazingly since I started disliking her because of this movie. 

What's brilliant about this movie is the way the girl tortures the guy. It's mostly mental but when things get physical it's getting real tough. Even though you don't see anything of it, it's kinda nasty even to think about it.

It's not a movie that people like easily. Ellen Page's character is a smart young girl, she is excellent at mentally torturing the guy. She's definitely not a very likable character, but still her motives are very clear. Patrick Wilson's character is a charming man, of course you have your questions with their whole meet up in his case, it's kinda pedophile-like, even though he doesn't seem to be a pedophile 'type'. Her accusations aren't too weird since he also agreed on meeting up with her, but in the entire movie you're still not entirely sure if he's indeed a pedophile. The ending of this movie is simple, but very effective and even slightly shocking.

Hard Candy is a messed up movie, but still awesome in it's own way. The acting is incredibly good. The budget of this movie was very low but it's hardly noticeable. I liked the movie a lot. It's definitely not what I expected at first.

My personal rate: 8/10

Review: Identity (2003)

Identity

IMDB rate: 7,3

Genre: Thriller

You have no idea how long I've wanted to watch this movie already. Every time I forgot about it unfortunately, but now it became available on Netflix, so finally I could watch it. At the beginning of the movie I wasn't too sure about it, it seemed kinda standard. 

Strangers from all different walks of life: a limo driver escorting a fading television star, parents with a young son whose marriage is in crisis, a cop transporting a dangerous convict, a beautiful call girl, a couple of young newlyweds, and a nervous motel manager are caught up in a severe rainstorm, stuck at a motel in desolate Nevada. Soon they realize they may be at the motel for another reason when one by one, people start getting killed off. As tensions flare and fingers are pointed, they have to get to the bottom of why they're there. Meanwhile in an undisclosed location, a psychiatrist is trying to prove the innocence of a man accused of murder in an eleventh hour trial. 

Let's start talking about the acting. I have to admit that this bunch of actors are definitely not in my top 100 of favorite actors, but in this movie they weren't all too bad. John Cusack for example, I really dislike him as an actor. He plays the same type of characters over and over again, it's getting a bit boring really. But well, in this movie he was quite alright. Then we have Ray Liotta, again, I'm not a big fan of him. He always plays some sort of bad guy, just not very surprising to be honest. In this movie his character wasn't very different from his previous roles, but well it was acceptable in this movie I think. I wasn't too annoyed by it. John C. McGingley also plays a part in this movie. Damn, how much I hate that guy, and to be honest, it's mostly because of this role in Scrubs. He's just annoying and he was one of the few that wasn't very good in this movie. Then there's Clea Duvall, and I'm 100% sure that this is her most annoying role ever, really, she's quite a stupid hypocrite crying whining bitch in Identity. 

While following this kinda standard storyline we also watch some guy who was sentenced to death and at first it seems kinda random. As if he was the killer or something. Sometimes his parts were even annoying because the 'motel-storyline' was so tensive. It's actually rather quick that we find out that he does have something to do with all this, luckily. 

Now beware, there are a few spoilers ahead! When we finally think that we know who the killer is, something big happens. We switch back to the convicted guy who is apparently Ed. Now how is this possible, since he looks nothing like him? Apparently the convinced guy had multi personality disorder and creates each character of the motel in his head. So basically, he's all of them at some point, but we watch it from Ed's view. The motel thing never happened actually, it's all some process that the convicted guy goes through to kill each one of his personalities. At the end each one of his personalities is killed off besides the girl, but she wasn't the killer so the convicted guy proved that the killer inside him was murdered, which made him more stable again. This was all to save the convicted guy from death penalty, and inside his head he lives further as the girl. But then, a small plot twist happens... 

I thought this storyline was very interesting. It had lot of twists that I really didn't expect at the beginning of the movie. I expected some sort of standard motel slaughter movie, such as Vacancy or something like it. At some points it even reminded me of 1408. It's really a good and surprising movie I think. Good acting and a great surprising end.

My personal rate: 7,5/10

Review: Misery (1990)

Misery

IMDB rate: 7,8

Genre: Thriller

This was actually the first time that I ever saw Misery. I own the movie for a long time already, but I never got around watching it. Also, I never read the book strangely enough. I own tons of Stephen King books, but for some reason I was never interested by reading Misery. I’ve seen the movie now and I actually enjoyed it quite a bit, so I’m very curious about reading the book now. It’s always fun to compare the books and the movies, to see the differences between them. For example, The Shining book is very different from the movie. They are both excellent, but again, very different.

Best-selling novelist Paul Sheldon is on his way home from his Colorado hideaway after completing his latest book, when he crashes his car in a freak blizzard. Paul is critically injured, but is rescued by former nurse Annie Wilkes, Paul's "number one fan", who takes Paul back to her remote house in the mountains (without bothering to tell anybody). Unfortunately for Paul, Annie is also a headcase. When she discovers that Paul has killed off the heroine in her favorite novels, her reaction leaves Paul shattered...

Misery isn’t a real horror movie in my opinion, it is very tensive I’ll admit, but I didn’t find anything scary about it. Well, one scene was a bit sick, I'll admit but it wasn't really scary. The movie itself isn’t very surprising, it’s quite predictable but that didn’t made it a bad movie. Even though it was a bit predictable, it didn’t made it any less tensive. I knew what was going to happen, but jesus, I was still scared that the man would get caught by this lunatic woman. To me that was what made it such a great movie. It isn’t easy to make a movie like this, we all know what will happen so it’s kinda hard to still make it special. I must say, Rob Reiner did an excellent job with Misery.

Now, what really made this movie as good as it is, is of course Kathy Bates. She actually won an Oscar for her role in Misery and with that it was the first or one of the first horror movies that actually received an Oscar. I’ve seen Kathy Bates in plenty movies where she mostly plays a nice lady, but seeing Kathy Bates in a role like this one was very unreal to me, because I’m not used to seeing her like that, but boy, she did an amazing job playing a lunatic woman.

I always find it very interesting how movies can be made tensive, even though it's mostly only playing in one single room. Because there aren't scares like monsters or anything it's up to Kathy Bates' character to be the scariest thing in that room, and believe me, she was. One of the scariest villains I've ever seen, and not one that can be compared with Freddy Krueger or anything like that, she's the realest one out there. 

 I liked Misery a lot. It's a solid movie even though the concept is quite simple. What made this movie as good as it was is mainly the performance of Kathy Bates, who actually won an Oscar for her role in Misery. Not all credit goes to Kathy Bates, because James Caan's performance is just as good. Misery is a very interesting movie that's tensive until the very last moment.

My personal rate: 8,5/10

Review: We Are What We Are (2013)

We Are What We Are

IMDB rate: 5,7

Genre: Thriller

Another 2013 horror movie! Well, horror.. to be honest I didn't find We Are What We Are much of a horror movie. It discussed some horror elements, yes, but not only until the very last scene we actually saw something of this, and what we saw wasn't very frightening to me.

It reminded me a lot of the style of Stoker, it was very dark and quite slow. Stoker is also a slow movie, but it wasn't too slow. There were enough happenings that made the movie interesting. With We Are What We Are (let's call it WAWWA for short ;)) it was often too slow. It wasn't very interesting in my opinion, so often my thoughts were away from the movie.

A seemingly wholesome and benevolent family, the parkers have always kept to themselves, and for good reason. Behind closed doors, patriarch Frank rules his family with a rigorous fervor, determined to keep his ancestral customs intact at any cost. As a torrential rainstorm moves into the area, tragedy strikes and his daughters Iris and Rose are forced to assume responsibilities that extend beyond those of a typical family. As the unrelenting downpour continues to flood their small town, the local authorities begin to uncover clues that bring them closer to the secret that the Parkers have held closely for so many years.

It's quite obvious that there is something wrong with the Parker family, it's a modern time but they often sit in medieval clothing, especially during dinner. While it's not too obvious in the beginning what is actually wrong with this family, we get the right thoughts about it quite easily.
So beware, spoiler ahead, but the Parkers are all cannibals. While this should be very shocking, it didn't feel very shocking. So to me, the feeling wasn't very right in the movie. It didn't even feel as a true horror movie, more like a normal thriller, but with cannibalism in it.

In the movie they are talking about people missing from the village, but there are only 3 missing people in the last few years. Not really a reason to worry it seems to me. But in the nearby area there are 80 missing people, and while this is being said there isn't anything done with it. It's more listed as a fact rather than a concern.

Also, it's very briefly shown that there are people in the basements of the Parkers, which gives enough clues already about the cannibalism, but still it didn't worry me at all.
The movie is put up quite boring and slow, there is more shown about the family in general than the concerning fact that they are cannibals. It's more like 'here is a family that isn't really functioning well, oh, and they are eating your neighbors by the way'.

Also, the entire story is a bit weird. They are following some sort of old religion which makes them eat people. They seem to find their religion (where they are eating people) a lot more accurate than a normal religion to get a place in heaven. Everyone has their principles, I get that, but dude you should reconsider the cannibalism part.
The daughters seem to be utterly disgusted by the fact that they are forced to eat people, and when they finally had enough they are taking revenge! Yes finally, we've waited for this the entire movie! But isn't it a bit hypocrite that they are taking their revenge by eating their father?

Personally, I thought that WAWWA (that's like if a baby is talking) was quite a boring movie. It had no tension in it and the cannibalism seemed to be more of an after-effect. The beginning was quite fascinating because it looked very good, great pictures and the acting isn't bad either. I like cannibalism movies, they are very gruesome and always leave some sort of impression behind (The Road, Ravenous), but this movie didn't do that at all unfortunately. I have never seen the original (this one is a remake of a Mexican movie I believe), but I have seen some pictures of it and those pictures look a whole lot more interesting that the ones of this movie. Perhaps I will watch it someday.

My personal rate: 6/10

Review: Masters of Horror: Deer Woman (2005)

Deer Woman

Masters of Horror

IMDB rate: 6,5

Genre: Supernatural

Another Masters of Horror movie! This time it's episode 8: Deer Woman, made by John Landis. It's the third movie that I've watched from my Masters of Horror box and I'm still not very impressed by these movies. Incident on and Off a Mountain Road was the best one I guess, at least from what I've seen so far. Cigarette Burns was quite weird and Deer Woman is not a very bad movie but also not a very good movie. It's actually quite a funny movie but absolutely not scary.

Again, sorry for the shitty pictures.

When the body of a truck driver is found trampled in his truck, the burnt-out detective Dwight Faraday is assigned for the bizarre case. He arrives tot he crime scene in a parking area with Officer Jacob Reed and their investigation discloses that the victim had left a tavern with a gorgeous woman and apparently had been trampled by a heavy animal in the truck cabin. Later, two other bodies of men arrive in the morgue in the same conditions, and the coroner Dana notes that all of them had erection in the moment of death, and Dwight notes hooves in the body. Dana investigates further and finds deer footprints and hair in the corpses. When Dwight and Reed talk to an Indian descendent in a casino, they unravel a Pohancan legend about a deer woman, half woman but having deer hooves and trampling men after seducing them. Without any other lead, they begin to believe that every legend is based on facts.

Deer Woman is definitely a weird movie, but also a bit funny. At one point the detective is thinking about possible scenarios' and these are all being showed of course. They are really funny but look terrible. For example, the picture above is showing one of these scenarios', I think you'll get why I find this funny. 

The acting is not very good. Especially the main actor is a bit emotionless, which makes it very hard to believe him. Of course, a Deer Woman itself is not very believable but some good acting might make me doubt. 

Also, the dialogues are terrible. Filled with awkwardness and it sounds very weird

The movie is not bad, it's quite funny. It's not very scary although there was one little jump-scare. I'm not sure if it's a recommendable movie, it's nothing special to be honest. Just a funny weird movie.

My personal rate: 5,5/10

Review: Red Dragon (2002)

Red Dragon

IMDb rate: 7,2

Genre: Thriller

So I stumbled across Red Dragon today. And I realized that I had not seen it yet!

I've seen Silence of the Lambs probably a hundred times already, Hannibal maybe twice and I even watched Hannibal Rising. But Red Dragon, nope. I also own all the books but I also did not read it. It's quite strange because I did read all the other ones so I wonder why I never read it before...

Anyway, Red Dragon is not really a horror movie, but it does contain the legend Hannibal Lecter, so a (short?) review is almost necessary on this blog :).

FBI Agent Will Graham has been called out of early retirement to catch a serial killer, known by authorities as "The Tooth Fairy". He asks for the help of his arch-nemesis, Dr. Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter, so that he can be able to catch "The Tooth Fairy" and bring him to justice. The only problem is that "The Tooth Fairy" is getting inside information about Graham and his family from none other than Dr. Lecter.

I was not very surprised that I enjoyed watching Red Dragon a lot. It's a very good movie. I've seen the original Manhunter but I personally did not like it. I'm glad they made a remake of it because Anthony Hopkins is just simply Hannibal Lecter. Brian Cox... not so much. 

Anthony Hopkins does not have very much screen time, and while that's a sad thing, it was not very bothering in the movie. The movie itself is very tensive, also Hannibal is not very scary in this movie, since he does not try to impress Will Graham, so I don't think that more screen-time would have made a difference. 

Of course, the movie is not only about Hannibal Lecter which forces me to discuss other people too. Not that this is a bad thing because the acting is simply flawless. Edward Norton plays Will Graham and as always he's amazing. I think he's an excellent choice to play Will Graham. 

Next to Norton were also other brilliant actors like Ralph Fiennes, Emily Watson, Harvey Keitel and Philip Seymour Hoffman. 

I would like to read the book someday because there were some points that were a bit unclear for me. I think a bigger story of the Tooth Fairy would have been nice. The motives were a bit unclear for me. I also found that the Tooth Fairy was quite a weak character. 

At this point I would rate Silence of the Lambs as the best one, followed by Red Dragon and followed closely by Hannibal. I enjoyed the movie Hannibal Rising but it hardly felt as a Hannibal Lecter movie, so that one comes last for me.

Recently I saw one episode of the TV show Hannibal, and I did not like it at all. Of course, it's only one episode and I will continue it someday but Will Graham (played by Hugh Dancy) was portrayed so annoying and weird. And then Hannibal, played by Mads Mikkelsen, he does not even resemble Hopkins for one bit! The choice for Mads Mikkelsen is just as terrible as choosing Gaspard Ulliel for Lecter. But again, I've only seen one episode and maybe I'm judging it all wrong, I will come back to it eventually when I continue watching it. But until then, this is my opinion about Hannibal.

Red Dragon is a very good movie. Brilliant acting and a good plot. Though it's definitely not as good as Silence of the Lambs, it's still an excellent movie. Absolutely recommendable. It does not even bother if you haven't seen Silence of the Lambs yet since Red Dragon is a prequel, but I must advice that you watch Silence of the Lambs afterwards since it's an amazing movie.

My personal rate: 8/10

Short review: The Astronaut's Wife (1999)

The Astronaut's Wife

IMDB rate: 5,1

Genre: Science-Fiction, Thriller

I'm only writing a short review of this movie since it's not really a horror movie. It's more a science-fiction I think. I've seen the movie earlier and back then I thought it was a reasonable movie, but now I'm watching it again and it's actually quite slow and boring.

A space shuttle in orbit to repair a damaged satellite is forced to return to Earth after NASA loses contact with astronauts Spencer Armacost (Johnny Depp) and Alex Streck (Nick Cassavetes)  for two minutes. Both were outside the spacecraft when the incident occurred. While Armacost seems to be unaffected, Streck has a much harder time recovering from whatever happened to them. Over time, Armacost's wife Jillian (Charlize Theron) begins to note subtle changes in him. Egged on by a former NASA employee, she begins to believe that her husband is something else. She also learns that she is pregnant.

The main characters are played by Charlize Theron and Johnny Depp. The two of them make a beautiful couple, but unfortunately it doesn't feel like there is any chemistry between them. Of course, it's supposed to be that way in the storyline, but even before it all got weird there wasn't any chemistry. At least, that was how I felt it. Of course, they are both great actors and there was nothing wrong with their acting performances. Johnny Depp is my favorite actor and his variety of roles he played still amazes me. Charlize Theron is also an excellent actress. Unfortunately the movie is just not that good which makes their performances hardly noticeable. Also, the story is about Spencer Armacost who suddenly changed a lot since his return from space, according to Jillian, unfortunately, you never get to know him in the first few minutes before he leaves. This makes it a bit difficult to follow since he seems to act normal the first half of the movie, but this is, because you don't know how he was before.

The movie is very slow and there is not very much happening in it. In the very end there is finally a bit of tension but since it's near the end, it's only a short moment. The entire movie is quite boring because you only learn in the end what the big deal is. Also, the ending is quite unsatisfying because you finally hope to get some answers and well, they're not really given.

It's not really worth watching, the movie is very slow and boring. You're waiting for some action that will never come. The actors playing in this movie may suggest that the movie might be worth a watch but it's really a letdown.

My personal rate: 4/10

Review: After.Life (2009)

After.Life

IMDB rate: 5,9

Genre: Supernatural, Thriller

After.Life might seem like a video game at first, because of the dot in the middle. I can assure you that it's just a movie. It's a very confusing movie in which you can make up your own mind about the truth. These movies always have some things in it that don't really fit which make you question everything all over again. The first time I saw After.Life I thought it was a strange movie, but now I've seen it again I like it a bit better, but it's still a bit confusing. 

After a horrific car accident, Anna (Christina Ricci) wakes up to find the local funeral direction Eliot Deacon (Liam Neeson) preparing her body for her funeral. Confused, terrified and feeling still very much alive, Anna doesn't believe she's dead, despite the funeral director's reassurances that she is merely in transition the the afterlife. Eliot convinces her he has the ability to communicate with the dead and is the only one who can help her. Trapped inside the funeral home, with nobody to turn to except Eliot, Anna is forced to face her deepest fears and accept her own death. But Anna's grief-stricken boyfriend Paul (Justin Long) still can't shake the nagging suspicion that Eliot isn't what he appears to be. As the funeral nears, Paul gets closer to unlocking the disturbing truth, but it could be too late; Anna may have already begun to cross over the other side.

So the plot evolves around Anna who is the funeral home, not sure if she's alive or dead. Eliot Deacon says he has the gift for seeing death people and many things suggest that she is indeed dead. The entire movie you keep guessing what the truth is and every time you think you you've figured it out, something will happen that makes you think otherwise, again.

The acting in this movie is very good. But I don't like Christina Ricci as an actress. Even in this movie, she plays a bitch, she's a huge ass to her sweet boyfriend for no good reason and well, you just don't give a damn about her to be honest. I do think that many male watchers enjoy her presence in this movie though, since she's naked most of the time ;).

Justin Long does play his part very well, I do enjoy him more in a comedy but he did a good job. His character is very sweet and because of him you keep wondering if Anna is dead or not. Liam Neeson plays a very different role compared to his usual roles, I do think he did a good job, but I'm not sure if the role really suited him.

A thing that did bother me was when Paul finally was close the Anna and he called her name, she did not respond. The first time she kept screaming while he was far away, and when he's at her door she doesn't do anything. Sure, that's what kept the mystery going but even when you know you're dead I think it's an impulse to call your loved one.

The movie is a bit slow at point, this is also because you want to know the answer, and with all the dialogue and stuff, the answer doesn't come very fast. The dialogues were a bit confusing at some points. 

!Spoilers!

When the movie was finished I figured that Anna was dead. Although there were still some doubts, I made up my mind and decided that they just make it appear like she's alive. But I still was quite curious what the truth was. So I searched IMDB and there it was! The director said that Anna is actually alive the entire time. One of the clues was the breath on the mirror, we saw it all, but it still makes you doubt, because everything after and before that moment proves that she's death. Another clue is that Eliot Deacon gives Anna injections with the given reason that it makes her skin shine, a fact is that injections have no use when there is no blood flow. There's also said by a cop that there are injections that can slow the heartbeat that much that someone can appear dead. He gives the name of the injection and apparently the name is shown on one of the injections. 

When I read this, the entire movie changed for me. At first you think the movie is about a dead girl who can't accept her destiny, but when you figure out that she was alive the entire time, you suddenly see Eliot Deacon as a psychopath. Eliot Deacon is in fact comparable with Jigsaw, because at one point, he gives them a change to escape, but apparently, nobody ever goes away because they're that much into believing they're death. He gives a second change to person who don't appreciate their life.  It's an excellent plot twist, and knowing this, it made me appreciate the movie a lot more.

!End of Spoiler!

This movie is one that not everybody can appreciate. You need to be patient and go through a lot of confusing dialogues, also, you need to be focused the entire time to figure out the truth. It's nice to figure the answer out for yourself in the end, when you made up your mind, the entire movie changes. The acting is good and there is an interesting plot.

My personal rate: 7/10