(1972) Horror Express

This film is incredibly grainy and rough, even for the time period. It also happens to have some of my favorite visuals of the era. It’s genuinely creepy to this day and the storyline is ambitious as fuck.

I’d be hard-pressed to say it’s not one of the better horror-sci-fis of the 70’s and that category includes some great fucking films. I absolutely love the dialogue and progression.

I’m just totally blown away.

8/10

(2013) The Last Day on Mars

This movie is actually pretty well-produced which does make my criticisms more intense. For me personally, I felt it went from average to shit in the blink of an eye.

I absolutely hated basically every creative decision. It was such a profoundly uninteresting movie to me as soon as shit went down.

It’s just stupid.

It’s not a terrible movie, I just personally detest it quite a bit.

Watch it, don’t watch it…I don’t give a shit.

5/10

(2019) The Platform

This, from context of distribution, themes within the film itself, is such a defining moment for me personally on the state of horror in our current climate.

One of my favorite things about horror is that you can trace history itself through the decades, with films reflecting the current political, social and economic state around the globe. First we has Us and then another incredible film Parasite, all with similar desperate themes of class instability. Then you have The Platform, which in its pure brutalism combines horror, religion and politics to make an incredibly powerful statement.

This movie is brutal, disgusting and unrelenting horror. I’d love to do a full analysis here but I’m strict on the no-spoilers but I will say, this isn’t one for the weak. it contains some really upsetting, graphic scenes and most of its runtime is drenched in this nihilistic nature that feels helpless.

I do feel like the message it sent was necessary and powerful. It’s one of the best films I’ve seen this year, finally glad that it got a release. I don’t think Netflix has shied away from dark content but I truly believe this is the most graphic, unfiltered content that they’ve purchased to date.

9.5/10

(2007) P2

This is a weird movie to review while simultaneously being the least weird movie to review. That’s really because it’s a very formulaic horror thriller. The ride is intense and thrilling but we always know how it’s going to end.

There’s a particularly brutal scene involving a car that’s an excellent moment of body horror though, despite being predictable, I didn’t expect it to be that graphic.

Wes Bentley is probably the only person worth discussing and although he’s personally typecast to me from American Beauty, I was open to him playing a more sinister role. So much of his dialogue is cheesy and just awkward.

I don’t mean to be sexist either but Rachel Nichols was just cast as a hot blonde with big tits, anyone could have played it. I’m only highlighting her irrelevance because it’s more apparent than Wes’. Her acting is on par with everyone; it’s just a forgettable performance.

I guess from ranting, I really didn’t care for this one too much. With that being said, unbiased, it’s not a bad movie. It’s intense; it’s a good popcorn flick. It just lacks a soul.

I’d say they did Alexandra Aja’s script a disservice but it’s a pretty fucking vanilla thriller story. Unless they absolutely butchered it, I’m unimpressed all-around.

5.5/10

(2009) Carriers

The first half of this film is really promising. The dark, helpless, unsettling tone is set early and despite being turned off heavily by the over-saturation, I was into it. I thought it was decently well shot and the sense of desperation among these characters seemed genuine.

The second have of the movie is where thing confusingly fall off. The second half feels like it was concocted by a totally different filmmaker. The quality dips in every aspect and the storyline just kind of marches on to a slow, anti-climactic ending.

Overall, I’m pretty neutral on this one.

5.5/10

(2009) The Darkness Within

This movie is really fucking bad, it’s pretty much a student film. It’s super low-budget with horrible actors.

It’s certainly not the worst movie I’ve ever seen or anything. In fact, it actually shows little glimpses of promising aspects. A couple solid deliveries by these amateur actors towards the end grabbed me a bit. The production and consistency is so poor overall though that those moments are fleeting.

It actually has a pretty fucking solid ending. It’s kind of cliche and corny but I liked it.

I liked the ending I mean, not the slog leading up to it.

3/10