Showing Tag: " supernatural" (Show all posts)

REVIEW: Turn Out the Lights Given Diana's Skin Disorder & Her History at Mulberry Hills

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, July 24, 2016, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
Lights Out





Directed By: David F. Sandberg

Starring: Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Alexander DiPersia, Billy Burke, and Maria Bello

It seems as if the box office might just be getting interesting again.  We had the delightful Ghostbusters last weekend and have Star Trek Beyond this one.  We even have Jason Bourne and Suicide Squad waiting in the wings.  We're in the midst of a potentially really good wave of big blockbusters here.  All the while, the undercurrent of horror and animated flicks t...

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REVIEW: With the Fourth Cataclysm At Hand, The Ghost Girls Become Ghostbusters

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, July 16, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
Ghostbusters





Directed By: Paul Feig

Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Charles Dance, Michael Kenneth Williams, and Chris Hemsworth

There's been one tragedy after another as of late.  It seems that there is a terrorist attack, a mass shooting, or police killings on an all too frequent basis these days.  Orlando.  Istanbul.  Nice.  Baton Rouge.  Dallas.  The Twin Cities.  The list sadly goes on and on and on.  All our prayers at STMR are certainly with those de...

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REVIEW: Tackling Enfield in The Conjuring 2, Ed & Lorraine Warren Face Off With the Crooked Man Bill Wilkins & Demon Valak

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, June 11, 2016, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
The Conjuring 2





Directed By: James Wan

Starring: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Frances O'Connor, Madison Wolfe, Simon McBurney, Franka Potente, Benjamin Haigh, and Maria Doyle Kennedy

We all could use a good scare right about now.  After taking a break from the genre with the action spectacle Furious 7 last year, James Wan is back with the follow-up to his 2013 hit The Conjuring. As fate would have it, I've found one of the rare horror movies of 2016 I don't loathe.  I'm not putting The Conjurin...

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REVIEW: An Otherworldly Movie With Plenty of Daylight, Midnight Special Might Just Make You Believe

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, April 10, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
Midnight Special





Directed By: Jeff Nichols

Starring: Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver, Sam Shepard, and Jaeden Lieberher

Shotgun Stories.  Take Shelter.  Mud.  These films are all the product of a singular director-actor combination, that of visionary Jeff Nichols and his muse Michael Shannon.  The third time apparently wasn't the charm as the dynamic duo is back together again on the big screen with this weekend's Midnight Special.  For his fourth collaboration with Sh...

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REVIEW: The Witch Crackles With Old School Horror & One Dysfunctional Puritan Family

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, February 27, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
The Witch





Directed By: Robert Eggers

Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Ellie Grainger, and Lucas Dawson

Having the benefit of having reviewed hundreds and hundreds of films, I generally can size up a film in its first fifteen minutes or so.  My ego lets me think I can do it in only five minutes sometimes.  In the case of Robert Eggers's The Witch, I thought I had it pegged after the first few moments.  I thought it was going to be a dry, fright-less affair. ...

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REVIEW: Despite the Man Who Can't Breathe's Obsession With Quinn Brenner, Insidious: Chapter 3 Isn't A Real Traffic Stopper

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, June 7, 2015, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
Insidious: Chapter 3





Directed By: Leigh Whannell

Starring: Dermot Mulroney, Stefanie Scott, Angus Sampson, Leigh Whannell, and Lin Shaye

Into the further we go one more time.  The Insidious franchise is one I didn't expect to have this kind of longevity.  Yes, it's made some money and lined the pockets of studio execs on two separate occasions.  Still, it's a franchise that jumped into the fray at what I hope is the tail end of this supernatural phase in the horror genre.  Then again, I hold hig...
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REVIEW: In Poltergeist, This House Is Not Clean

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, May 24, 2015, In : 0.09% Cocktails 
Poltergeist





Directed By: Gil Kenan

Starring: Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, Jared Harris, and Jane Adams

The end of an era has come.  It's the real thing.  Buying the world a coke and concluding the story of Don Draper, Mad Men has ended its incredible seven season run.  While I'll certainly miss this truly one-of-a-kind show, the thing that's on my mind this weekend is a long forgotten partner of Sterling Cooper Draper Price.  That's right.  I'm talking about Lane Price and the man who portray...
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REVIEW: Sex Can Kill You When It Follows, Especially for Jay

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, March 22, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
It Follows





Directed By: David Robert Mitchell

Starring: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Olivia Luccardi, and Lili Sepe

If you've followed this site for any extended period of time, I'm sure you've discovered the fact that I have no love lost for the horror movies of today.  These days, we get the millionth unwarranted entry in a long-running franchise, a supernatural horror flick that is stylistically akin to every other horror movie that's come out in the last twenty y...
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REVIEW: In The Lazarus Effect, Zoe's Fiery Apartment Hell Nightmare Is the Bizarre DMT Compound of Horror Movies

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, February 28, 2015, In : 0.09% Cocktails 
The Lazarus Effect





Directed By: David Gelb

Starring: Mark Duplass, Olivia Wilde, Donald Glover, Evan Peters, and Sarah Bolger

It's amazing how Hollywood can get horror so right on television and so wrong on the big screen fairly consistently.  Just look to the recent successes of terrific shows like American Horror Story, The Walking Dead, and Bates Motel.  Then, look to the recent failures of films like Annabelle, The Purge: Anarchy, and any Paranormal Activity film of your choosing.  It's a st...
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REVIEW: In The Woman in Black 2, Angel of Death Isn't the Good Thought With Which to Fight Edward's Bad Dreams at Eel Marsh House

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, January 3, 2015, In : 0.09% Cocktails 
The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death





Directed By: Tom Harper

Starring: Phoebe Fox, Jeremy Irvine, Helen McCrory, Adrian Rawlins, Leanne Best, and Ned Dennehy

"Fight bad dreams with good thoughts."
-Eve Parkins (Phoebe Fox)

Happy New Year STMR readers!  We've put the doldrums of the 2014 box office behind us.  The movies of 2015 now lie ahead, and we've got plenty of potentially great flicks on the horizon.  This is the year of the reborn franchise.  Just look to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Juras...
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REVIEW: For a Soul, Annabelle Higgins Blandly Introduces Mia Gordon to Her Satanic Cult the Disciples of Ram with Nursery Music

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, October 4, 2014, In : 0.12% Hard Liquor 
Annabelle





Directed By: John R. Leonetti

Starring: Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton, Tony Amendola, and Alfre Woodard

The last movie I saw about a doll was A Haunted House 2.  Though the atrocious spoof was much earlier in the year, my bitterness lingers on today.  With the notion of Marlon Wayans shamelessly sexing a doll named Abigail in the back of my mind, it's needless to say a horror movie about the doll on which Abigail is based is the last thing I want to see on the big screen.  As it stands...
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REVIEW: Thanks to the Philosopher's Stone, As Above, So Below, As I Believe the World to Be, So It Is in Hell

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, August 30, 2014, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
As Above, So Below





Directed By: John Erick Dowdle

Starring: Perdita Weeks, Ben Feldman, Edwin Hodge, and François Civil

Summer 2014 is coming to a close.  The excitement I put forth back in May when The Amazing Spider-Man 2 arrived hasn't materialized into a wealth of big budget blockbusters behind which we all can rally.  While I have lauded smaller films like Chef, Snowpiercer, and Boyhood, we peaked too early with films like Godzilla and X-Men: Days of Future Past.  It's been downhill ever s...
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REVIEW: To Deliver Us From Evil, Sergeant Ralph Sarchie Must Use His Radar, His Discernment of Spirits, to Stop Mick "Jungler" Santino #Invocamus

Posted by James Brown on Friday, July 4, 2014, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
Deliver Us From Evil





Directed By: Scott Derrickson

Starring: Eric Bana, Édgar Ramírez, Olivia Munn, Sean Harris, and Joel McHale

"Invocamus Vi Ingredi Ab Inferi”

Hollywood hasn't figured out what to do after the success of the horror genre in 2013.  In a reactionary move to box office gold, they're mostly releasing halfway decent movies from a singular niche genre, possession films.  Just look at the slew of flicks we've had featuring demons trying to make their way into the world.  They incl...
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REVIEW: In The Quiet Ones, Poltergeist Doll Evey Dwyer, Her Host Jane, & the Devil Worshiping Lilitu Give Us Two Boring Knocks

Posted by James Brown on Friday, April 25, 2014, In : 0.09% Cocktails 
The Quiet Ones





Directed By: John Pogue

Starring: Jared Harris, Sam Claflin, Olivia Cooke, Erin Richards, and Rory Fleck-Byrne

I've said that I'm tired of found footage horror films, but I have to say that I'm tired of supernatural horror flicks in general.  Poltergeists have simply been overdone in recent years.  Paranormal Activity, Insidious, & The Conjuring have all flooded our theaters.  I'm more of a slasher fan of Friday the 13th or A Nightmare on Elm Street, exactly the types of old schoo...
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REVIEW: Spoofing The Conjuring & Insidious: Chapter 2, A Haunted House 2 Pathetically Sexes Abigail the Doll & Satirizes Demon Agouhl

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, April 19, 2014, In : 0.12% Hard Liquor 
A Haunted House 2





Directed By: Michael Tiddes

Starring: Marlon Wayans, Jaime Pressly, Essence Atkins, Gabriel Iglesias, and Cedric the Entertainer

I've been loathing this weekend on my review calendar for quite some time, for quite some time.  I knew that the completely unwarranted follow-up to Marlon Wayans's A Haunted House would be arriving in theaters on this weekend.  I knew that a horrendous, trashy film was on my docket.  I knew that I'd be a simultaneously embarrassed and pissed off movi...
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REVIEW: Born From Death, the Antichrist Comes Through a Pregnant Sam During Her Last Hour in Devil's Due

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, January 19, 2014, In : 0.12% Hard Liquor 
Devil's Due





Directed By: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett

Starring: Allison Miller, Zach Gilford, Sam Anderson, and Robert Belushi

"Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come.  Therefore we know that it is the last hour."
1 John 2:18

It's the third weekend of the year, and we've already gotten our second found footage horror movie (the first being Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones).  It's needless to say that I'm gett...
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REVIEW: Despite the Possessed Simon Game, Marked One Jesse Loses It With Anna & One Creepy Coven of Witches in This Paranormal Activity Spinoff

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, January 5, 2014, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones





Directed By: Christopher B. Landon

Starring: Andrew Jacobs, Jorge Diaz, Richard Cabral, Carlos Pratts, and Gabrielle Walsh

Happy New Year STMR readers!  Whether you've travelled, visited family and friends, or just watched some good movies, I hope you've had a holiday season full of much-needed rest and relaxation.  As we kick off 2014, we begin things with a horror franchise that was noticeably absent in a banner year for the genre.  While movies like The Pu...
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REVIEW: Whether Meredith or Parker Crane, the Bride in Black and His Mother of Death Make Chapter 2 of Insidious Worth Skipping

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, September 14, 2013, In : 0.09% Cocktails 
Insidious: Chapter 2





Directed By: James Wan

Starring: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, Ty Simpkins, and Barbara Hershey

It's Friday the 13th, and I don't have a new Jason Voorhees flick to go see.  Slasher flick You're Next is still in theaters, but I could use something fresh.  What we have instead this weekend is James Wan's follow-up to his 2010 horror flick Insidious.  While I certainly am no fan of the series, it's hard to deny that the Saw director found success earlier this year in ...
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REVIEW: R.I.P.D. – Men In Black With Dead-ohs

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Sunday, July 21, 2013, In : 0.09% Cocktails 
R.I.P.D.
SoberFilmChick




Directed by: Robert Schwentke
 
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Bacon, Mary-Louise Parker, and Stephanie Szostak

When the trailer for R.I.P.D. debuted, I immediately thought that it looked like Men in Black with dead people instead of aliens.  Good-looking rookie cop a la Will Smith? Check. Grumpy old Tommy Lee Jones type veteran? Check.  Secret agents who secretly save the world from destruction? Check. Check. Check.  Unfortunately, that is where the similari...
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REVIEW: In The Conjuring, Demonologist & Clairvoyant Ed & Lorraine Warren Endure Infestation, Oppression, & Possession With Witch Bathsheba

Posted by James Brown on Friday, July 19, 2013, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
The Conjuring





Directed By: James Wan

Starring: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Ron Livingston, Lili Taylor, Mackenzie Foy, and Joey King

The slate of horror movies at the box office has actually impressed me this year.  There's largely been a step away from the outright torture porn that’s dominated the genre in recent years and a step toward what perhaps may be the next generation of horror films.  With Evil Dead earlier this spring and Carrie later in the fall, remakes sadly aren't going anywh...
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REVIEW: In The Last Exorcism Part II, Abalam Fails to Seduce Us When Nell Says This Demon Isn't Real

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, March 2, 2013, In : 0.12% Hard Liquor 
The Last Exorcism Part II





Directed By: Ed Gass-Donnelly

Starring: Ashley Bell, Julia Garner, Spencer Treat Clark, Muse Watson, and Louis Herthum

When it comes to horror movies nowadays, I'm at my wit's end.  They all just suck.  Dark Skies, Texas Chainsaw, and Paranormal Activity 4 are all potent examples of the genre's decline in recent years.  The good news is that we've had fewer horror movies in recent months. The bad news is the downward spiral of this genre continues.  This weekend's The L...
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REVIEW: Light or Dark, Caster Lena Duchannes Doesn't Exactly Take Gatlin by Storm in Beautiful Creatures

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, February 16, 2013, In : 0.09% Cocktails 
Beautiful Creatures






Directed By: Richard LaGravanese

Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis, Emmy Rossum, Thomas Mann, and Emma Thompson

It's Valentine's Day weekend, so there's plenty of love to be found at the box office.  Sappy moviegoers (and their unfortunate boyfriends or husbands) are making the obvious choice and going to see Safe Haven.  Action junkies can strangely find John McClane offering a healthy dose of fatherly love in A Good Day to Die Hard.  Final...
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REVIEW: Lily, Mama, Victoria. The Helvecia Cabin is a Full House of Horror

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, January 19, 2013, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 

Mama





Directed By: Andres Muschietti

Starring: Jessica Chastain, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Megan Charpentier, Isabelle Nélisse, and Daniel Kash

"A ghost is an emotion, bent out of shape, condemned to repeat itself, time and time again, until it rights the wrong it was done."
-A Local Record-keeper

We don't get too many ghost stories at the box office.  I'm talking about real ghost stories, not Paranormal Activity.  I'm talking about films like last year's The Woman in Black.  I'm talking about ...


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REVIEW: Katie and Hunter Drop the Ball in Paranormal Activity 4

Posted by James Brown on Friday, October 19, 2012, In : 0.09% Cocktails 

Paranormal Activity 4





Directed By: Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman

Starring: Katie Featherston, Kathryn Newton, Matt Shively, Brady Allen, Aiden Lovekamp, Stephen Dunham, and Alexondra Lee

I normally start out a review on a crappy horror movie by throwing around some wisecracks about Hollywood's obsession with terrible scary movies that are often tantamount to torture porn.  I've got something a little different to talk about today, Hollywood's recent obsession with kids in horror movies.  La...


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REVIEW: Mr. Boogie is Anything But Sinister. Try Infinitely Boring.

Posted by James Brown on Friday, October 12, 2012, In : 0.12% Hard Liquor 
Sinister





Directed By: Scott Derrickson

Starring: Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, Fred Thompson, James Ransone, Clare Foley, and Michael Hall D'Addario

Halloween is on the horizon. That means it's the season of crappy horror movies! That's unfortunately what we as moviegoers are subjected to on an annual basis. A couple of long-running franchises such as Paranormal Activity or Saw release their next terrible installments, and a few newcomers typically fall flat. This weekend, we have a horror newbie...
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