SOPHIE'S EXPOSURE - HORROR
April, 19 2018
As someone who is a traditional scaredy-cat, I hate horror movies. When I heard I was going to be watching horror films, I was absolutely terrified to watch any. The only horrors I had seen were Woman In Black, Evil Dead and Amityville Horror. I was certainly hiding behind a pillow with some of these recommendations.
Tom's Choice - Sinister
Sinister is a Blumhouse production movie, famous for other hits such as Insidious. Writer Ellison Oswald had been suffering writer's block and is desperate to write his next best seller. He discovers films showing the gruesome deaths of families killed by their children. Elliot soon learns the horrors behind the presence of the videotapes.
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I loved the concept of this movie. It was so interesting to see that demons are not usually involved in influencing children using videotapes. I should have seen who the killer was going to be. I liked the idea of the house painting as it was a very creative, idea but not as interesting as some of the other tapes. The lawnmower clip still haunts me.
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At the time I was definitively hiding behind a pillow for some of the films and it is definitely worth another watch.
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This movie did encourage me to watch the second one. The sequel was good, but it never outshines the first.
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8.5/10
David's Choice - The Babadook
I was always intrigued by this movie, but I was too scared to watch. Now, this exposure gave me the push I needed to watch it.
The Babadook follows single mother Amelia and her son Samuel, Her son is too scared at night to fall asleep and Amelia must always check the house for monsters before sleeping. Her son's behaviour keeps her up at night adding to her stress of struggling with her Husband's death. One day for a night story, Samuel picks up the book Mister Babadook and soon the creature comes to life. ​
This film really got under my skin. There was no jump scares just pure psychological horror. The worst kind of scare. The Babadook may have moved jerkingly with some bad animation but it wasn't enough to distract from what was happening.
One thing that really annoyed me was the child. Children who are overly whining seemed to be a trope in horror movies. I know he cares and loves his mother but at times he really distracted me from the suspense. But the film did display a fairly moving message about the struggling for acceptance of grief.
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The idea of a monster coming to life from the fears of a children's book was an idea that I really liked. You knew the signs to look out for and knew what was coming which built up the suspense. Sound effects were amazingly timed and this was the most intense aspect of the movie. ​
8/10
Kit's Choice - Mirrors
This movie follows ex-cop Ben Carson as he takes a job as a security guard at the ruins of an old department store. As he patrols, he notices the mirrors showing handprints, but he learns there is a force behind the mirrors out to get his family.
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This movie terrified me. I hate gory, graphic scenes with a passion, but this movie gave me plenty of that. In particular, one scene with a slowly ripping jaw was enough to knock me sick.
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The premise of this was very interesting as the force moves between the mirrors into the real world so instead of a gory hack and slash movie, it became more mind-bending. But the story was somewhat predictable.
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One aspect that confused me was the ending and the movie was trying to be clever, yet it took me a moment to understand. The backstory was also a little hard to follow and too complex.
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I may not re-watch this movie, but it definitely has a strong scare factor even if confusing at times.
6.5/10
Final thoughts
Even though I am not the biggest fan of horror, I surprisingly enjoyed all the recommendations.
All of the films had different concepts from each other and all affected me in a different way. Sinister had the shock factor from all the videotapes, The Babadook creatively came to life from a children books and Mirrors took scare demonic reflections in a different direction from what I thought it would.
After this experience it makes me want to try exploring horror films further, but I never want to watch a horror movie alone ever again.