Day 30: The Babadook

This little foreign horror flick came out of nowhere and became pretty popular a couple of years ago. I am kind of surprised at how popular, given the ending of the movie. Audiences usually want a more satisfying resolution.  But I digress.

This movie follows the story of a woman whose husband has died, leaving her to raise their son. A mysterious book about a monster called the Babadook turns up in their house and the kid becomes obsessed with it. Soon, secrets are revealed and pasts are uncovered. It is that busy middle portion with the woman hunting for answers that provides most of the momentum of the movie. Really, like Drag Me to Hell, this is a movie about domestic abuse and trauma as well as the ways you can choose to handle them. When seen through that lens, the ending makes perfect sense but, as always, your mileage may vary.

Day 29: Vanishing, The Act of

I want you to join me in a horrific thought experiment. Think of someone you love or at least really care about who is young, not into risky behavior and is relatively stable. Now think about the last time you saw this person. Now, imagine that is the last time you ever saw them or spoke to them. Imagine that they simply vanish. Go to their house and find it just the way they left it (maybe even with food on the table). Find their car, their wallet, their own family and friends...but you never find them.

Having a loved one vanish is, to me, the worst experience one can have. Not only is there no action you can take (besides maybe randomly looking for them), there is no new information to act on. If someone has been kidnapped, you get a demand. If someone has been hospitalized, you can find that out. If someone just vanishes, there is literally nothing to be done for it. You can't help but imagine horrible scenarios. Eventually, maybe you cling to one or two positive possible outcomes. But, in the end, the not-knowing is a torture no one should have to endure. Trust me on that one.

Day 28: Cheap Thrills

Not horror in the supernatural sense, this movie is like a Twilight Zone or Tales from the Crypt episode brought to life. Starring the cast of The Innkeepers as well as David "Whammy" Koechner and an unrecognizable Ethan Embry (gone from skinny skater boy to hulking monster of a man), this is a movie about how far you would go to win some money.

Craig (Pat Healy) is a family man who looses his job. Rather than go home, he goes drinking where he runs into his old friend Vince (Embry). The two are approached by a rich couple who challenge them to a series of increasingly dangerous dares for money. After dares involving punching bouncers and taking shots, things get darker when they go to the lavish home of the couple. Soon, crimes are being committed, body parts are being lost (and worst) and non-erotic sex is being had.

You'll squirm and be uncomfortable but that is kind of the point. Cheap Thrills is a nasty little slice of fun that goes to some somber places. I liked it but your mileage may vary.

Day 27: Drag Me to Hell

Don't piss off people who can curse you. This would seem to be a lesson we, as a society, should have learned back in the medieval times at the latest. This movie was a semi-comeback for Sam Raimi after most people were disappointed in Spider-Man 3. At any rate, critics heralded it as a return to form for his grosser days but he actually had something to say with all the bile, spit and vomit produced by the characters.

On the surface, this is about a girl who denies an old gypsy woman a home loan and gets cursed to be dragged to hell in x number of days. Most of the movie follows the attempts of the girl to escape her fate. However, just beneath the surface, there is a story of struggling against an eating disorder. The main character used to be fat and happy and is now skinny and miserable. The gypsy woman vomits and chews on the girl repeatedly. The subtext is all there if you know where to look.

Anyway, this is a pretty fun little horror romp with the wicked sense of humor Raimi is known for. Check it out.

Day 26: The Pact

This is a newer one that has gained some notoriety despite never getting a theatrical release. Think of it as Netflix Famous. Caity Lotz (who can currently be seen kicking ass on DC's Legends of Tomorrow) stars as a woman who returns to a childhood home after the death of her mother. After her sister goes missing, the woman begins thinking there may be a secret room in the house. Ghosts and secrets and all sorts of scares come along with this movie. This is indie horror done the right way.

I'm beginning to realize what a tie horror has to mystery movies. With ghost stories like the Pact and the Woman in Black, you invariably have a protagonist attempting to unwind a mystery with a series of clues as to who might be haunting them and why. I will say I didn't see the ending of the Pact coming. It is a pretty novel approach to the haunted house ordeal. So anyway, if you dig a good horror/mystery this one's for you.

Day 25: 2000 Maniacs

I remember reading about this movie a long, long time ago but had never seen a frame of it until I moved to Boston. The first concert I went to in Boston was The Flaming Lips with an opening act called Enon. As a background for their set, Enon had scenes playing from a movie where it looks like some regular people are accosted by hillbillies and killed one by one. Somehow, through Jungian shared memory, I knew that movie was 2000 Maniacs. Later that year, I sought it out and I was right.

The movie was made in 1964 which somehow lends it a snuff movie authenticity that slick new horror doesn't have. The plot is that a group of kids out for some fun take a wrong turn and end up in a town that shouldn't exist. The townsfolk (including the mayor) come out to welcome them and ask them to stay for their anniversary celebration. Oddly, everyone in town is white and speaks like Colonel Sanders. Soon, the kids realize that they aren't the guests of honor but rather prey for a series of horrific blood sports (one kid is sealed into a barrel with nails driven inside and rolled down a hill). The story of the town is kind of original and creepy so i don't want to spoil it here. Let's just say, this is some early gore worth checking out. I can't speak for the remake.

Day 24: The Woman In Black

I feel this is an overlooked entry into the latter day horror genre, even though it was apparently popular enough to spawn a sequel. I feel like audiences still don't take Daniel Radcliffe seriously as anyone other than Harry Potter but I think he does a fine job here as a lawyer sent to clean out the estate of a dead client. After a series of creepy visions, children in the nearby village start dying under mysterious circumstances and he keeps getting the blame.

This is a good, old-fashioned, meat and potatoes ghost story. The mystery of the ghost must be solved and then the danger either will or won't end (depending on the type of ghost story). The supporting cast is quite capable and I believe this was Hammer studios comeback attempt after being masters of the genre for so long in the 70s. If you need a good spooky story for a rainy night, you could do worse than this.

By the way, today is Thanksgiving (or Halloween 2.0) where we indulge our gluttony not in candy but in turkey flesh. Usually, the scariest thing that happens today is having to talk with the extended family.