Tough
Horror Ladies
by Kristin Battestella
These contemporary single mothers and
their daughters do it all amid slasher scares, folklore horrors, and
backwoods frights.
Halloween – Forty years later Jamie Lee Curtis returns for this 2018 direct
sequel opening with asylum creepy and pesky podcasters claiming to be
investigative journalists as interlaced exposition fills viewers in
on Michael Myers' silence and the preparation paranoia that ruined
Laurie Strode's family. Security systems, padlocks, elaborate gates,
and isolation surround them both, but Laurie's daughter Judy Greer
(27 Dresses)
questions her drinking, over the top readiness, and inability to let
go of “The Shape.” Walking to school amid today's tacky Halloween
decorations, looking out the classroom window, ominous hedges, and
laundry lines wink at the Original Film alongside snips of our
vintage Halloween crime,
newspaper clippings, and case files. Gross gas station bathroom
terrors provide bloody teeth, bashing hammers, and cracking necks
while the bright, open modern home contrasts the backwoods dark
interiors with secret staircases and hidden shelters. The son-in-law
says he can take care of his family but their windows are open and
there's no security system, and between playing with yo-yos or
complaining about baking the ineffectual men are louses leaving the
ladies to check the scary sounds, slow going to answer a cry for
help, and not learning to fear or prepare until it's too late. Corny
family kitchens, trite teens, typical editing, and flat characters
with nothing to do but say I told you so add to the confused BFF boys
and gender reversed Bonnie and Clyde costumes filler while a kid
shooting the wrong man as he calls for a dad who isn't there tries at
some patriarchal commentary. After forty years of no need to
transport Michael, he and his maybe metaphysically connected crazy
cronies conveniently escape in an unseen bus crash just in time for
the holiday. There's a slight camp here, too for those who celebrate
in different ways – kids running after candy, teens at the rave,
adults dressed as slutty nurses – but jerks and old ladies who
disrespect Halloween are gonna pay! The bad girl babysitter and her
wise charge too old to be afraid of closet monsters seem important,
however numerous characters come and go, forgotten in a best friend's
sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend roundabout with
unimaginative stabs through the throat or obviously fake heads
squashed like watermelons. We can't care about random people when
they are conveniently killed or obnoxious and deserving of the
horror. What happened to all the crazy patients who escaped on the
crashed bus? Stupid folks unaware they are in a horror movie leave
the safety of a police vehicle, running into the woods screaming
rather than radioing for help, and it's unrealistic when Laurie and
her scanner are the only back up when we live with such real world
scary and excessive Halloween safety. The sympathy for the villain
philosophizing is getting old, but the should have listened to your
mother message wins when there really is a boogeyman in the closet.
Barren wooden rooms with gated doors sequentially trap and clear in a
siege ready lair that should have been explored more in parallel with
the paranoid state of mind. Mano y mano fights and window perils
create a mythical Laurie to match Myers, yet fiery ruses and dynamite
traps make for an abrupt, leave room for the sequel end. Although
there are too many movies just named Halloween
now
and those who saw H20
may
be completely confused, this
is well done compared to other films in the franchise. Despite
over-relying on the Original in many ways, we're
only here for those connections, and without
them, this would be just another derivative horror movie. It's not
perfect by any means, but fortunately this remains entertaining for
its final girl presence.
The Hole in the Ground –
Not all is as it seems for a young mother and son in this 2019
Irish/international ninety minutes. Fun house mirrors and creepy
carnivals lead to upside down eerie, distorted car scares, and freaky
ass hooded figures in the road. House repairs, rules to follow,
locked basements, spiders, footsteps, and flickering lights contrast
the warm lamp light safety, and there's an innocence to a child's
questions on why the two moved without the most likely abusive dad.
He doesn't fit in at school and she's the fifth wheel at dinner
parties, but running off into the spooky forest is not the answer
thanks to lookalike trees, darkness, and the titular ravine. Although
the accents may be tough for some and night scenes are difficult to
see at times, viewers are meant to only see what the flashlight
catches in its spotlight and hear the frantic shouts of a mother
calling out for the son who isn't safe in his bed. Stories of crazy
neighbors, noises in the dark, and doors slamming by themselves add
to the whereabouts unknown panic, emergency calls, and child claiming
to be where he wasn't. An old lady in white walking toward your
vehicle to say this is not your son is chilling in its simplicity,
yet we aren't sure when the spooky switch may have been made. Our
family is new in town, unfamiliar and surrounded by crows, dead
bodies, and wakes with the coffin laid out in the living room and all
the mirrors covered. Little changes that only a mother would know
escalate to spying under the door, crawling on the floor, and toys
near the crater where the ground rumbles and moves. Now mummy is
fearful of her son, running through school corridors as creepy songs
referring to our eponymous hole have other parents and doctors
questioning what's wrong. There's no immediate Ring surveillance or
instant video easy, but vintage camera evidence is upsetting to those
refusing to believe. Mirrors are needed to tell the truth as what
we're seeing becomes increasingly weirder. Changes in favorite foods
and not knowing their family code games lead to heavy breathing,
violent confrontations, surprising strength, bodies in the basement,
and heads buried in the ground. Some of the action is a little
laughable, but the audience is trapped in this freaky world thanks to
sinkholes, scary roots, caverns, and bones. The disturbing
revelations may be too slow or merely abstract metaphors for viewers
expecting shocks a minute, but the finale gets physical with monster
doppelgangers and rescues from the folklore for entertaining shout at
the television disturbia.
Incident in a Ghostland – Station wagons, reading scary stories on
the road, and creepy candy trucks open this 2018 Canadian/French
production. Mom likes her daughter's Lovecraftian writing, but her
sister hates it and their new house inherited from a kooky aunt who
collected weird dolls, freaky toys, spooky mirrors, and animal heads
on top of the old lady linens and antiques. Naturally, there's poor
phone reception, and newspaper headlines say there are psychotic
killers on the loose, establishing the family situation and scares as
the killers walk right in for slams against the wall, sniffing dolls,
and off camera screams. Vintage lighting that should create a cozy
glow instead makes shadows where our invaders can come right out of
the woodwork. The unknown, maze-like, and cluttered house provides
confined hysteria and congested action for strongmen bashing lamps
and broken glass. Mom fights to defend her family against the
immediate attacks, stabbings, and dark room assaults. Our daughters
are at the budding, in between age – cowering or urinating and
unable to fight or flee against choke holds and terror in the
basement. Once the youngest grows up to become a successful author,
her latest best seller recounts the horrible events, and frantic
calls have her returning to the house where her sick sister locks
herself in and relives the horrors. Every bump in the night, whisper,
creepy doll, and alarm clock adds to the on edge on top of help me
notes, handcuffs, and bloody nudity. Is it deranged harm,
supernatural contortions, or something more when her crazed sister
insists someone else is painting her face like a doll and chaining
her to the bed? Missing keys, slamming doors, scary dogs, and slaps
in the face lead to flashes of past attackers. Are they phantoms of
the traumatized mind or there to terrorize again? Beaten faces and
arguments over how they need each other to accept the reality of what
truly happened provide some superb distortions for viewers. Despite
the escalating torture porn, the rug isn't pulled out from under the
audience with some improbable twist that makes no sense in this
tormented world. Playing dress up and placing people posed among all
the other toys leads to blow torches and hefty but handy typewriters
as our ladies face their demons despite their fears. The horror
action and psychological terror will definitely be upsetting to some
viewers, but this inescapable fear is well done for horror fans
looking for something a little different. I've never heard of a candy
truck before and shit don't ever want to encounter one now!
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