Tag Archives: horror

#211- Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

Quick recap: Henry is a serial killer with a heart of gold.

…..That’s pretty much all it’s about, honestly.

Michael Rooker (Henry) looks like a cross between Heath Ledger and Lyle Lovett. Squint a little and you can totally see it.

Michael Rooker (Henry) looks like a cross between Heath Ledger and Lyle Lovett. Squint a little and you can totally see it.

Fun (?) fact: Lots of good trivia on this movie, but my favorite is that the music was mixed in a studio run by a group of Christian rock and roll guys. They weren’t amused when they learned the music was going towards a film so disturbing. IF you listen to the music, though, I don’t see what else it could have gone to besides a horror film.

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My thoughts: According to Netflix and my 1001 movies book, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is one of the ‘most disturbing films of all time.’ Cue eye roll. Of the movies I have seen on this list so far, I would give the title of Most Disturbing to Funny Games because not only did it have gore, it also made the viewer an accomplice by breaking the fourth wall. I wasn’t scared in the least bit by Henry, but I can say I was adequately disturbed. Not overly so, but disturbed nonetheless.

For one thing, Henry is so different than the other serial killers pop culture knows. He doesn’t have a pattern or reason why he kills; he just does. Sometimes he is angry, sometimes it’s for revenge, sometimes it’s for fun and sometimes it’s because he’s had a bad day and what better way to relax than to break a hooker’s neck? There is a romance (and I use that term in the loosest since possible) plot and for awhile, I bought into it, thinking that Henry would settle down once he gets with this girl. NOPE. Some of the deaths were a little on the disturbing side, but the dead bodies didn’t seem all that realistic to me so that was a little underwhelming. Still, it was nice to have a killer that I actually hated for once and didn’t feel any sort of emotional attachment to.

One of the other things that caught my attention with this movie is that it doesn’t have a happy ending. I won’t spoil what happens for once, but it’s definitely not happy. Which I like, because horror movies that end with everything back to normal kind of sucks the fun out of the whole thing. This one wants you to feel as uncomfortable as possible with your surroundings. The director deliberately left out any reference to cops or anything because he wanted the audience to feel like this is a lawless place, where killers are allowed to roam free. Add to that, this movie barely has a plot. Most of the time it’s just Henry meeting someone and then killing them in some way. In the beginning, I was hopeful that someone was going to do something about all of this but by the end I had pretty much accepted my fate and knew that no character was safe.

It's set in Chicago, a town not normally known for having a bunch of murders.

It’s set in Chicago, a town not normally known for having a bunch of murders.

Final review: This was a tough one because although I appreciate what the movie was trying to accomplish, I just didn’t really enjoy it. It was disturbing in all of the wrong ways (incest, for example). 2/5

Up next: HorrorFest!

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#210- Rosemary’s Baby

Quick (recap): A woman (Rosemary) unwittingly births the anti-christ.

such a touching moment....capturing what all mothers look like when gazing upon their children for the first time.

such a touching moment….capturing what all mothers look like when gazing upon their children for the first time.

Fun (?) fact: Let’s play Six Degrees of Evil! Ready? Ok, so Roman Polanski directed Rosemary’s Baby. A year later, his wife Sharon Tate was murdered by the Manson Family. Charles Manson titled the killing spree, ‘Helter Skelter’, after a Beatles song. One of the Beatles, John Lennon, stayed in the apartment where this movie was filmed. He is also responsible for writing the song ‘Dear Prudence’, about Mia Farrow’s (Rosemary’s) sister. Bam! Thanks to whoever at IMDb figured that one out.

yes, she was getting assaulted by satan at this time, but nonetheless, this looks very comfortable

yes, she was getting assaulted by satan at this time, but nonetheless, this looks very comfortable

My thoughts: America, you confuse me. Many of you refused to see The Exorcist, on the grounds that it was blasphemous. Which, sure, I could see that with the dialogue of the demon. But he was a DEMON and the Catholic church came and cast him out and good won. So, if anything it is a very religious movie. And then you have Rosemary’s Baby, which doesn’t have near the same hatred as The Exorcist, even though it involves the birth of satan’s son. What gives? Personally, this movie was much more creepy to me than The Exorcist and had a downer of an ending, which I always appreciate in horror films. Add to that, all of the real life stuff that went on a year later with Sharon Tate and Charles Manson and you have a damn good scary movie.

Well, scary in theory, at least. Most of the film is a slow build up where the audience knows what is going on, but the main character doesn’t. She figures it out at some point, but it’s very hard to grasp that your husband has made a deal with your witch neighbors to have satan rape you and impregnate you with his spawn. That’s years of marriage counseling right there. The ending, as Rosemary tries to escape is exciting as well as ultimately futile. What I loved most about this film is how far Rosemary goes to protect her unborn child, not knowing that she is essentially protecting evil and the eventual destruction of Earth. It’s kind of hard to predict these things, although I suspect an ultrasound might have picked something up, if it had been around in the 60s.

My one complaint about the film is how the devil worshippers are portrayed in the end. All of the ‘hail satan!’s were a little on the campy side, as well as the choice to put the demon baby in an all black bassinet. It was a little overkill. I mean, obviously he is the son of satan, but do we to be reminded of it every second?It was a little disappointing not to get a good look at the baby, but knowing this crew, he was probably decked out in devil horns, a pitchfork and an Iron Maiden onesie.

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Final review: 4/5. Quite scary!

Up next: HorrorFest continues!

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#209- The Sixth Sense

Quick recap: A kid sees dead people and also it’s really cold all of the time.

from savagechickens.com from savagechickens.com

Fun (?) fact: M. Night Shyamalan said that he got the idea for The Sixth Sense after an episode of ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark?’. That show used to freak me out so much as a kid so it’s nice to know that it stuck with someone else as well.

The Midnight Society made me want to try throwing stuff into fires

My thoughts: Welcome to Horrorfest! The past couple of years have mostly been about trying to find something to truly terrify me, but seeing as how the list has started to dwindle a bit, my new theme is ‘Whatever is Left’. Catchy, don’t you think? Anyway, first up we have The Sixth Sense, which I chose because it is currently streaming on Netflix. I have seen this movie a few times, including once when it was still in the theater and embarrassed myself by crying because the ending confused me. So, yes, I knew about the ending beforehand, which, if you don’t, A: Congratulations on not getting spoiled yet! The internet can be a cruel, terrifying place about stuff like this  and B: Probably best if you skip this post for now and keep your purity.

Knowing the ending before sitting down to watch the movie made it a little less fun, but not much. I started out trying to find all of the clues that would’ve given away that Malcolm was dead, but gave up pretty quickly because I was so wrapped up in the story. The details I did manage to find made the twist seem so obvious, but only if you know what you are looking for. For example, there is a very obvious close up to Bruce Willis’ face when Cole says that he sees dead people, yet that could also be explained by the director wanting to get a reaction shot. In the end, the realization was still a shock even though I knew it was coming. I liked that Shyamalan used shots from what we had already seen to explain what happened, rather than Malcolm just saying, ‘ Oh my god. I’m dead.’It’s nice when directors choose to trust that their audience can figure out what is going on.

What surprised me most this time around was the emotional punch this movie gave. As an adult, the ghosts no longer scare me, but the idea of having a child with this ability does. I’m not even talking about the ability to see ghosts, but any disability or something not easily treatable. Then there’s the idea of losing someone you love and trying to put myself in Anna’s shoes but being unable to dwell on it too much because it made me so sad. It’s really funny to me how much this movie terrified me when it first came out and now it still terrifies me, just in different ways.

FInal review: 5/5 Also, good on Muriel for getting married and having a kid, although I wish it was in better circumstances. Poor Muriel.

Up next: More Horrorfest!

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#137- Manhunter

Quick recap: Will Graham, former FBI profiler, is talked into helping solving a particularly gruesome serial killer case. Watch closely and you may see our good friend Hannibal Lecter pop in to lend a hand!

Lector reminds me more of a grown up Eddie Munster than terrifying serial killer

Lector reminds me more of a grown up Eddie Munster than terrifying serial killer

Fun (?) trivia: The scene where Graham visits Lecter was actually filmed at an art museum in Atlanta. Also noted that ‘Lecter’ is spelled ‘Lecktor’ in the film.

Random vet creepily puts his hand on McClane's back as she lays on a sedated tiger, while Dollarhyde stands in the corner and watches. Weird.

Random vet creepily puts his hand on McClane’s back as she lays on a sedated tiger, while Dollarhyde stands in the corner and watches. Weird.

My thoughts: Oh, boy. I’m going to try my best not to compare this movie to Silence of the Lambs because you just can’t. It’s superior, Anthony Hopkins is superior and so it wouldn’t be fair to this movie. I’m also not going to compare Manhunter to its remake Red Dragon, which was released in 2002. Why? Because this movie is a hot mess all on its own without needing any further comparisons.

If I had to put my finger on Manhunter’s biggest problem, it would be that it is an 80’s movie. How 80’s you ask?

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Yeah. Director Michael Mann is also known for a little show called Miami Vice so that explains the color choices. I really can’t fault anyone for that because it was the style at the time. What I can fault the movie for, however, is the music. Oh my god, the music. Someone on that crew figured out what a synthesizer was and just went NUTS on the soundtrack. It’s pretty awful. The worst scene is when Dollarhyde the serial killer, watches the girl he likes get back from a date with another man. As he sits in the car, his heart about to break, the most 80’s sounding song comes on and it completely ruins the moment. Totally inappropriate, just like the decision to use Prince on the Batman soundtrack.

Concerning the plot, I was surprised with how gritty Manhunter was.  I remember reading the book a long time ago and really enjoyed it. The scenes where Graham imagines the dead women with mirrors in their eyes was creepy. I wouldn’t go so far to call it horror but it was unsettling, at least. The acting was pretty good, although Graham’s habit of always talking to himself was a little weird. I get the point that he was trying to understand the killer’s point of view but those scenes just seemed silly.

Wheeeeeeee!

Wheeeeeeee!

Final review: 2/5.

Up Next: Nothing for a month. For some stupid reason, I’ve decided to try NaNoWriMo this year where I will be writing a novel in 30 days. See you guys in December!

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