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Reviews
Grave (2016)
Delightfully Tasteful
In the genre of cannibalism horror, I feel it's hard to find a film done completely right. RAW is believable and establishes a well created relationship between the sisters.
Scenes carry the right amount of tension and the shots are done well. I particularly enjoyed how they played with color during various scenes.
I would have maybe liked to see more of the psychology of her transition into cannibalism, instead of it constantly being some unseen, uncontrollable urge the main character seems to have. They never really discuss the sisters method of obtaining human flesh via car accidents either.
The body horror and gore isn't over done and even a bit more subtle at times which added to my enjoyment of the film. The acting is pretty excellent, especially that of the older sister.
Raw was a film I definitely enjoyed and would recommend as a good flick.
FX's American Horror Story: Cult After-Show (2017)
Tired Political Nonsense
AHS Cult really rides heavily on the emotions that occurred in people during)after the 2016 presidential election. I found this season really lacking any sort of real drama, and it failed to do anything new or outside of the box within the AHS realm, leaning towards predictable. I honestly had a very hard time sitting myself down and finishing it.
The political commentary is very heavy in this season, so if that's not your thing you may want to skip it altogether, though it tends to poke fun at the right and the left at different times. I think the writers tried to be as neutral about it as possible. This season is kind of ruined in a way because it tried to be too edgy with this. There are moments of tension and excitement peppered in, but they are too far and few between for me to really recommend this season at all.
Tulen morsian (2016)
Intense and Evocative
The Devil's Bride does a great job of capturing the despair and hopelessness experienced during the witch hunts. You get to experience the emotions of those accused, sentenced, and those carrying out the sentences.
A beautiful sound track supports the scenes, as well as great establishing shots.Characters have good chemistry together, though at some points Anna does come off as unlikeable.
Scenes like the sentencing and executions carry the appropriate amount of intensity and drama. You see Anna struggling trying to come to terms with what she's done, eventually pushing herself to martyrdom, sacrificing herself to save Rakel whom she falsely accused. The last scenes in the movie are thought provoking, and you feel for those who were left behind in the aftermath of the witch hunt.
My singular problem is that there are some story points that are unresolved, perhaps cut out in the editing room. I wish maybe they would have done more with some of these plot points.
Overall, this movie isn't perfect, but I think it's worth watching if you are highly empathetic and enjoy a movie that can make you feel.
The Houses October Built 2 (2017)
Didn't even want to finish this movie
Let me start this review off by saying that I enjoyed the first movie. It wasn't phenomenal, but definitely a original concept that I enjoyed seeing play out.
This movie was definitely a unnecessary sequel. The acting is wooden and the premise leaves a lot to be desired. They get the gang back together, treating the female character in a almost mean spirited way to get her to come back and do the haunts with them despite her past trauma.
The visuals are definitely much better with this movie, leaning away from the 'found footage' feel of the last movie. That being said it feels like they don't do anything new despite this.
There are a lot of scenes where it's just them going through the haunted houses, which could have been interesting had they chose something interesting to do with it. But instead you just get to see these drawn out scenes for too long and it becomes a total snooze fest. This movie absolutely tries and fails repeatedly to create any real feelings of suspense or even nervousness.
Save yourself the time and skip this one.
Mr. Pickles (2013)
A lot like Adult Party Cartoon with less laughs.
Anybody can clearly see just by watching a ad for this show that its clearly bassed on shock humor and gore.
For me this is absolutely okay as long as there is a) humor to it and or b) good story writing. Mr. Pickles got maybe some laughs out of me, but nothing that had me coming back for more or really interested in it.
Like most shock value shows the humor comes quick and is gone like that, everything moves at a quick pace. There is always something new happening on screen. However you find after a while the episodes fall into a pattern and it looses a but of its flare after a while.
Basically if you like happy tree friends, you may like this show. For me the novelty wore off after a couple episodes. I most likely won't end up revisiting this show at all.
Bajo la piel de lobo (2017)
Visually pleasing, narratively barren
While musically and visually pleasing, this movie is absolutely built on a bare bones story that leaves one craving something more.
You get moments of beautiful serene scenery, but you get moments of watching the man eating and other scenes that just feel too long. You have to wonder where the director wanted it to go. You go through the movie and evolve absolutely no strong feelings besides maybe disgust for the main character, and you want the wives to succeed and escape him. I would love to say that there was more to this film, but it just doesn't seem to deep. It's a lonely gross man doing gross things to women. This one is worth a skip.