Halloweenie Review: Psycho (1960)

October is coming to an end, but I felt like I still had enough nerves in me to go out with a bang. I started a modern classic, It Follows, and thought, why not end with a classic classic? That sparked me to check the IMDB Top 250 list which I’ve largely ignored for a few months, and on there spotted a movie I knew I needed to see. Psycho! I don’t know the time limit on spoiler alerts, but I’m going to discuss the entire plot in this post, so beware.

I’m fairly certain I’m not the only person out there who has never watched Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), but everyone in the world knows about that famous shower scene. I’ve seen it parodied countless times, most notably in National Lampoon’s Vacation when Clark scares Ellen with a banana whilst she’s showering. In fact, if you check out the references section on IMDB, it has over 1,000! That’s pretty impressive.

So the funny thing is, despite this movie being 56 years old, I actually didn’t have a clue what it was about! All I really knew was that it ended with our heroine being tragically murdered whilst having a shower. Turns out, I was even wrong about that.

Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is fed up with her life. She has to meet her partner in secret, and they aren’t able to get married because he’s had to give up his money in alimony. When tasked at work to deliver $40,000 in cash to the bank, Marion uses the opportunity to run away and start a new life. When the weather takes a turn for the worse, she is forced to spend the night at Bates Motel, a deserted little place ran by an oddball by the name Norman (Anthony Perkins) who is dominated by his mother.

I can count the number of black and white movies I’ve seen on one hand, they’ve never really had much appeal to me. That said, I’ve enjoyed every one I have seen! I think what makes them great is that there’s no glitz and glamour to distract me, the focus is on storytelling, and the storytelling in Psycho is spot on. The first half an hour or so is dedicated to building up Marion’s character, showing us why she’s taking such drastic measures. It also builds up suspense in a very successful way, when Marion is stopped by the police and the whole ordeal at the car garage, I was on the edge of my seat.

Shock number 1 for me was when that pivotal scene happened only half way through the movie. Shock number 2 was that it was Norman’s mother that did the deed, rather than Norman himself. I’d always thought it was him! The scene was still difficult to watch, despite knowing what was coming. I can’t imagine the reaction when it was first released. If only time travel were real!

The second half of the movie turns into a crime solving story, as more clues are thrown out, and more questions raised about Norman and his mother. The moment when it’s revealed that Norman’s mother had been dead for 10 years gave me goosebumps. But who was it in the window upstairs?! The final scenes got too suspenseful for me, I hid behind my blanket, poking my head out every now and again, but what an ending! 

This movie is a huge two finger salute to the trailers of these days that give the entire story away. Almost the whole of Psycho was a complete surprise to me, despite it being one of the most famous movies of all time. Not my genre at all, but a bloody fantastic watch. Is the Bates Motel show worth a watch? I’m tempted.

Halloweenie Review: Orphan (2009)

When I thought up the ‘Halloweenie’ idea for this blog over October, I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I have so far. Really, I was just looking for an excuse to watch It Follows and The Babadook without having to try and write a proper review for them, but having knocked those two out of the park early on, I found myself on Sunday night actively looking for another good Horror movie to watch. That’s how I came across Orphan (2009). I came across a list of ‘The 25 Best Horror Films of the 21st Century so far’ and didn’t get any further than the first one on the list.

“An original chiller co-produced by Leonardo DiCaprio”

“...it ramps up to a rare (and essentially unguessable) twist”

Oh, I’m sold.

The orphan in question is a young girl named Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman), who is adopted by troubled parents Kate (Vera Farmiga) and John (Peter Sarsgaard) who already have 2 children younger than Esther, one of which is deaf. I’m still not sure why, or how that’s important to the plot, but okay. At least it made me keep my eyes on the screen to read the subtitles whenever she was signing.

It’s quite a long movie, but it never really dragged. The characters are all well introduced, we learn about the struggles Kate and John have had, Kate’s drinking problem, John’s infidelity, their miscarriage. I question whether it’s the right time for them to adopt, but then so did they, so I can accept that. Esther is an instantly likeable character, she’s quiet and doesn’t like like to play with the other children at the home, but she enjoys music and art, and she’s very smart. She’s a little odd, with her dress sense, ribbons and the way she talks, and that only gets worse as the movie goes on.

Esther quickly takes a liking to her new younger sister and her new father, but doesn’t like Kate much at all. She manipulates the whole family in such a way it’s frustrating to watch at times. I haven’t seen many of Peter Sarsgaard’s movies but I always find his character unlikeable, and I can’t explain why. I couldn’t stand him in this either. Would you really trust the word of your newly adopted and down right weird daughter over your wife?

I’ll keep this post spoiler free for anyone who hasn’t seen the movie yet, but I can’t argue with the second point that sold the movie to me in the first place. I did NOT see that plot twist coming. Personally, I try not to work it out anyway, because I love the thrill of the twist when it comes, but I couldn’t help but laugh at this one. I mean, really?!

I feel so conflicted. The movie felt well written (almost), well made, well acted, but so much made so little sense. It felt like so many details were thrown in to throw the audience off the scent, but really, the clues were there from the very beginning. I’m going to have to mull over this one for a while I think!

Halloweenie Review: Krampus (2015)

October is Halloweenie month here at Flick Chicks, the month that Jenna and I put on our big girl pants and force ourselves to sit through a few horror movies. You can read more about it in our announcement post here!

Upon realising that Jenna and I don’t live close enough to watch every single scary movie together, I think I fell into my comfort zone a bit, Christmas movies! Krampus (2015) was originally going to be the movie of choice for my family’s annual ‘weekend before Christmas’ cinema trip, until I managed to convince them it was by no means a movie for children, and hey, perhaps we should see The Force Awakens instead?! I have since happily reported back to my Mum she would not have survived this movie.

Krampus is exactly what you think it is. One Christmas Eve, a young boy has a hard time understanding why his family have to get together every year when they clearly can’t stand each other, and in his anger, he accidentally summons a horde of Christmas demons to his home, led by none other than Krampus himself.

The opening scene to this movie might just be my favourite of any festive films I’ve seen. The contrast of the beautiful music “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” with the chaotic, hellish scenes of the rush before the big day, screaming children sat on the laps of miserable mall Santas, people barging others out of the way to finish their shopping, it was so well done. The movie also stars some of my favourite faces from TV, Adam Scott (Parks and Recreation), Allison Tolman (Fargo) and David Koechner (The Office) so I had plenty to look forward to.

As funny as it was, the first chunk of the movie felt like a poor man’s National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, but nonetheless, I enjoyed it. I’m a sucker for a cheesy festive flick. It’s actually easy to forget that you’re watching a horror, that it, until a once hopeful letter to Santa gets torn up and thrown out of the window. From there, it’s a fast paced, adrenaline fuelled ride to hell. It’s quite jumpy in parts, especially the scenes outside in the blizzard, but I got used to it after a while. Watching the movie through a layer of cardigan sure helps.

I do have a few issues with Krampus. It’s described as a Horror Comedy, but it doesn’t blend the two genres well at all. The first half is pure comedy, the second part is pure horror, but that cheesy kind of horror that makes you laugh because it’s a bit well, bad. Perhaps that’s what the team was going for, but it felt off to me. The characters were scary enough, that’s for sure. It’ll be a while before I forget that teddy bear’s face!

If you can see past the corny one liners, Krampus is actually quite enjoyable. It also has quite a sentimental lesson behind it, and although it felt rushed, I enjoyed the ending. It wasn’t as ‘happily ever after’ as I expected it to be. 

Halloweenie Review: The Babadook (2014)

There are several coping mechanisms that I use when watching a horror movie. My favourite is keeping a cardigan nearby, and watching the tense scenes through it. Cardigans are the perfect thickness for obscuring most of the scariness without blocking the screen entirely. Hoodies are no good, as I sadly learnt whilst watching It Follows, they’re just too thick. They’re perfect for weepy movies though, I just pull up the hood and hide myself away. My latest trick for horrors that I can find on VOD however is watching on my tablet with headphones. Super easy to look away from and tear out a headphone when the creepy music is just too much.

The Babadook (2014) is a wonderfully creepy movie. Amelia (Essie Davis) is still struggling with the tragic death of her husband 7 years ago. Her son Samuel (Noah Wiseman) is having problems of his own. He’s plagued by a monster that not only keeps him awake at night, but has led to him becoming quite a violent and disturbed young boy. Just when things seem like they can’t get worse for this Mother and Son, they read a book called Mister Babadook, turning their lives into a living nightmare.

I got pulled into a false sense of security with this movie’s first half, which does a brilliant job at building the two leading characters and explores their backstories and the reasons why they are who they are. It honestly makes a great movie of it’s own right, without the horror part that follows. It was easy to take an instant disliking to Samuel, he seemed to be the stereotypical ‘weird kid’ you expect from a horror movie, but my heart ached for him and Amelia after a while. It was such a sad situation.

Sadly, the movie moves on from their tragedy and cranks up the scare factor once the ‘Mister Babadook’ book is found. The book itself is written in that rhyming couplet style that many children’s books are written, and starts off fairly innocent. You know, until the part about wishing you were dead. That was a bit off. Amelia does the WRONG thing by tearing the book up that night (personally I would have burnt it, and my entire house down) which I can only assume just angered the Babadook.

I can’t even tell you through words just how terrifying the sound the Babadook makes. Even through headphones rather than quality, cinema speakers, it’s chilling, and I’ve got goosebumps just thinking about it. Move over Godzilla, you ain't got nothing on this hat-wearing monster.

What I liked the most was that we didn’t actually see the Babadook that often. We just didn’t need to, the atmosphere and the music is enough, and it makes those scenes with him in that bit more powerful. Admittedly, I was hiding for a lot of the final chunk of the movie, whispering (spoiler alert) ‘please not the dog’ over and over again, but it was a justified kind of scaredness, I wasn’t just hiding from endless jump scares.

I’m so glad I braved this one, and ooh boy, that ending! I won’t spoil it for anyone, but it was definitely not what I was expecting.

Halloweenie Review: The Human Centipede, First Sequence (2009)

October is Halloweenie month here at Flick Chicks, the month that Jenna and I put on our big girl pants and force ourselves to sit through a few horror movies. You can read more about it in our announcement post here, and get involved if you’d like!

Why did I decide to watch The Human Centipede? My smart, blogger answer would be that I’d like to experience the full range of horror movies, from slasher to supernatural to gore, but I’m not even sure what category this would fall into. Torture? The real answer to that question is that I’m fed up of every TV show out there making reference to a movie I’ve never seen.  I have no idea why I watched this back when it was released, morbid curiosity maybe - either way I honestly wished I hadn't (and I enjoy a good gore film!!) This is just horrific!

I’m pretty sure everyone knows the plot to The Human Centipede. Some creepy guy kidnaps some people and sews their mouths to another person’s butt, thus creating a human centipede. What I didn’t know beforehand is that creepy guy has already done this with some dogs. Yuk.  The worst part about this is that his logic is that as long as he feeds the first one the rest will survive on the nutrients, and we all know what that means!!  Case in point, there was one scene that actually made me gag and I had to turn away to avoid losing my dinner!

So the movie starts with what I come to expect from most horrors, some dumb people doing some dumb stuff. This time, it’s two American girls on vacation in Germany who get themselves lost in the woods, and then accept ‘creepy guy’s’ offer of shelter from the rain whilst he calls for help. Life pro tip here, don’t accept a drink from a stranger, especially when you didn’t see them prepare it.  General life tip, rain does not hurt you, man with medical equipment in his basement does!!

What I hate about horrors is the suspense. I hate waiting for that jump scare that I know is coming, because it makes me jump anyway. It always happens the same way! Why do houses in these movies have whole walls made of windows, with the curtains drawn? I know you’re going to pull that curtain back. I know there’s going to be someone on the other side waiting for you and - DAMNIT, I knew it and I still jumped.

There was only really that one jump scare, and the rest of the movie was just kind of gross. I should have known better. Still, I couldn’t help but laugh when one of the girls got on creepy guy’s bad side by trying to escape. Of course your punishment is going to be becoming the middle of the centipede! Duh!

Worst. PowerPoint Presentation. Ever.

I can't say I remember the jump in this one, I just remember the ending where they just topple over, I felt so bad for the woman in the middle but I couldn't help but laugh (Yes I am a horrible person!).  I feel like this film would have been a whole different experience if me and Allie has watched it together, we would have shouted at the screen and talked over the particularly horrid bits. It would have been a bit more Sharknado and a bit less ewwww!

Has anyone watched the other two Human Centipede movies? I can’t believe they actually made more, but we're on the 4th Sharknado movie, so there’s that.  I knew there was another one, I didn't know there was two more, do we even want to go there? We really don't, but The Human Centipede didn't scar me for life unlike It Follows!

I'm not sure I can rate this out of 10, it wasn't a badly made film but the story was cooked up by someone super cray-cray and the outcome was just gross...how does one quantify that?!

Halloweenie Review: It Follows (2014)

October is Halloweenie month here at Flick Chicks, the month that Jenna and I put on our big girl pants and force ourselves to sit through a few horror movies. You can read more about it in our announcement post here, and get involved if you’d like!

So this is the first is a long line of horror movies that me and Allie have promised to watch for Halloweenie, this was no where near the scariest we are going to watch and yet there were were hiding behind cardigans, cushions, hoodies and cats! We gave ourselves a choice between It Follows, Unfriended and The Babadook, and It Follows was the winner!

It Follows centres around what we named a "supernatural STD". After a sexual encounter, Jay (Maika Monroe) starts seeing people following her that no one else can see and they are trying to kill her.  Should she pass it on or try to stop it?

This was not what I was expecting, I thought it was going to be a teen slasher movie, Scream 2.0 but this was completely different. It had more of an indie feel about it and focused on really slow build ups rather than cheap scare tactics to entertain. I read afterwards that the idea of 'it' walking towards the camera makes it feel like a scary dream when someone is following you but you can't get away.

Jump scares are what keeps me away from Horrors, and it's so cool that It Follows only really made me jump once. From memory someone threw a rock at a window? I jumped a mile. The only other time I jumped was when Jenna quite literally punched me in the arm for no reason. Cheers mate!

However, it was the lack of jump scares that had me nervous the entire time. Those slow shots of a window, or open door, had me holding my breath and squinting, waiting for something to jump at me. That suspence barely lets up, and when you do let your guard down, is the moment the movie strikes with something horrifying. I'm just amazed, still. Is this what it feels like to love a Horror movie?

The whole film has a dream vibe about it, everything was so slow and calm (but terrifying at the same time). It made mine and Allies freak outs about every bathroom mirror, windows with curtains and closet doors seem ridiculous as there was minimal big 'jumps'.  I do need someone to explain the swimming pool scene to me and how they came up with that plan? Why did they think it would work? It baffled me?

I have no idea how we are actually going to watch the real jumpy horrors after the state we were in after this. Allie kindly walked me to my car (because I had lots of stuff not because I was scared!!!) And the first person we saw we looked at each other and said "you can see him right" - crackpots! This part is true, whenever Jenna comes to my house she has enough stuff with her to move in with me for the week. I'd imagine we terrified that poor guy though, wondering if he was real or not!

I've spent every day since questioning anyone walking slowly, I feel the need to nudge someone nearby and ask them if they can see that person too.

Oh, and if you're looking for a second opinion, why not check out Courtney's review over at On The Screen Reviews. This was creepy timing, just as I'd finished polishing off this post, Courtney emailed me looking to join in on our 'Halloweenie' activity and sent me a link to her review of It Follows! Weeeeiiiiirrrrrrd! Thanks Courtney...now can anyone else see that person outside? No?

Announcement: October is 'Halloweenie' Month!

Welcome to the Salty Spitoon, how tough are ya?

How tough am I? I watched The Woman in Black a few years ago, and I slept a whole 3 hours afterwards. What do you mean I’m not tough enough? You think I belong at Weenie Hut Jrs?

If you have no idea what any of that means, you really need to watch the No Weenies Allowed episode of Spongebob Squarepants, it’s the best. It also sums up mine and Jenna’s feelings about Horror movies. As film fanatics we like to say that we’ll give any movie a chance, but that doesn’t ever seem to extend to Horrors. We’re just too scared. Every October we say this year will be different, and in my own defence I got through a few Horror-Comedies last year, but still, we want to be brave.

That’s why, throughout October, we’ll be manning up and watching a few scary movies that have been niggling our curiosity just a little too much. Knowing us, we won’t be able to form actual coherent reviews of these, so we’ll be labelling those posts with ‘Halloweenie’.

Here’s the fun part - we’d love for you to join us! Whether you belong in Weenie Hut Jrs like we do or if you have a lifelong membership to the Salty Spitoon, there’s got to be a Horror out there that you’re nervous about. If you’d like to join us, either send us your Halloweenie review by email and we'll publish it here (flickchicks2014@googlemail.com) or post it on your own blog and tell us about it! At the end of the month we'll publish a list of all Halloweenie posts.

Review: Circle (2015)

I’m back with another Grampy suggestion special! I’ve had to take them with a pinch of salt lately after one fateful movie night where he shunned Everest in favour of The Last Witch Hunter...but I couldn’t resist the sound of this latest suggestion.

Circle (2015) is a small, low budget movie which opens with 50 strangers awakening to find themselves all stood on circles, forming a large circle, in an even larger circular room. Notice the theme? Every 1-2 minutes, someone in the circle is executed by an electrical surge from the centre of the room. It seemingly chooses its victims at random, but the group soon realise that they have the power to choose who is sent to their death, by voting in secret.

From there, the movie descends into chaos as leaders attempt to emerge to decide who in the group should die first. Within the group are people from all ages, races, religions, classes, professions, and it doesn’t take long before personal prejudices come into play. Attempts to not vote at all fail, attempts to all vote one person to the left or right fail, and so the group are forced to make terrible decisions. It really does make you wonder what you would do in that situation yourself. Honestly, as much as I’d like to think I’d be a brave soul who would keep a level head, I would probably hop off my circle and end it all on my own terms! That’s a bit dark when I think about it, ha.

This movie is definitely not for everyone, I accept that. As I said, it’s a small budget kind of movie. There are no faces here I recognised from other movies, and the entirety of the movie takes place within the circular room. It’s very narrative-driven, which admittedly is something I would normally struggle with, but I was so drawn into the conversation, wondering who was going to go next, who was going to survive at the end, how this group of people got here in the first place, and what on earth would happen when just one person was left. Circle is a short movie anyway with a runtime of 87 minutes, but the time flew by much quicker.

It’s not a perfect movie by any means. You have to question how level headed some of the characters actually are. They freak out to begin with, but stay quite calm for the rest of the time. It definitely needed a few characters having a panic attack or simply sat in their circle sobbing relentlessly to feel slightly more real. The reveal of who/what is behind the whole situation also felt a bit short, and didn’t have much of a ‘wow’ factor. I can forgive that though, because the whole focus of the movie is the characters, and how they make these decisions. 

If I could describe it in simpler terms, I’d say that Circle is like 12 Angry Men on crack. The movie 12 Angry Men that is, not 12 actual men who are angry and...you get what I mean. Sorry to compare it to such a legendary movie, but that’s honestly the first thing that came into my head. All I can say is, if Circle sounds like something you think you’d enjoy, give it a try! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Review: 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

I was so late to the Cloverfield party, I arrived after the footage was found. In fact, I only really arrived on the same day that the teaser trailer for 10 Cloverfield Lane landed and took the internet by storm. That night, I tracked down the 2008 original and watched it there and then, without even reading a synopsis. It wasn’t a perfect movie by far, but watching it completely new to the story was rewarding, and so I decided I would do the same with 10 Cloverfield Lane. That said, if you haven’t seen it yet, I strongly encourage you to close this page. I’m not going to talk spoilers of course, but I do think this is one that’s better the less you know.   I would have watched this as I really enjoyed Cloverfield but Allie listed 'horror' in the tags for the review, so for that reason...nope!

So, it’s unclear where 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) fits in timewise with the original movie, although multiple cases have been made online. In fact, I think it’s fair to say that this could easily be a stand alone movie, entirely unrelated to the 2008 movie. It starts with our main character Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), leaving in her car hastily, arguing with her boyfriend on the phone. She’s involved in a car accident, and wakes up chained to the wall in a bunker belonging to Howard (John Goodman). After a day or two Michelle also meets Emmett (John Gallagher Jr), suffering with a broken arm.

What 10 Cloverfield Lane does best is make you feel uncomfortable straight from the get go. It’s pacing is incredibly slow, and the first half is perhaps too slow, but it gives you plenty of time to look at the facts and try to work out what’s actually going on here. The real question is, can Howard be trusted? Sure, he saved Michelle after her car crash, but she’s literally chained to the wall. Howard says they have to stay in the bunker for at least a year, maybe two, because the air outside will kill them, but how does he know?

Every few minutes a new clue is unveiled, and you change your mind, and just when you start to think ‘okay, but where is this going?’ Something game changing happens and you’re left guessing all over again. The suspense is unbearable at times, and my poor Mum who was in the cinema with me at the time was terrified (she’s worse with scary movies than I am, which is saying something!). Nope!

The performances by the 3 main actors were brilliant and really made this movie great, but a whole heap of praise has to go to John Goodman here. He’s been a supporting character in everything I’ve seen him in, and I still don’t have the right words to explain how good he was in this. Is there any hope of his performance being memorable still by the time awards season rolls round again? I sure hope so!

This next part is going to push the spoiler boundary, so take care. I just really want to talk about the ending with someone. What’s Houston all about do you think? Are we getting a third Cloverfield movie at some point? Was the footage that forms the original movie found by the team of survivors/fighters based in Houston? I need all the answers!  Does this film actually have anything to do with Cloverfield?!

Review: The Green Inferno (2016)

They say curiosity killed the cat. Well, I have two very adventurous cats and it hasn’t killed them yet. One of them did go missing for 4 weeks last year though and that nearly did him in. Anyway. Yes, that title is correct! Despite being made in 2013, The Green Inferno didn’t get a wide UK release until February 2016! I have never seen an Eli Roth movie before, nor do I enjoy horror movies, but as part of my quest this year to leave my movie comfort zone, my curiosity got the better of me.  Here is where we differ,  Allie is braver than me.  I don't like horror movies at all, particularly anything that makes me jump.  I don't mind blood and guts and gore but if someone is in the wardrobe, I'm out!  However, I went through a phase of watching trailers on YouTube a few months back and this popped up, here's little ol' me thinking 'ooooh a new superhero movie' and then the trailer  played...nope nope nope nope nope.  So needless to say, I haven't watched the film!

The plot is simple enough. A group of students travel to the Amazon to save the rainforest from being bulldozed, things don’t really go to plan, and they find themselves captured by a tribe of cannibals, armed with tranquilizer darts. Is it wrong to have felt like the intro was taking too long? ‘Just get on the plane!’ I wanted to shout, before feeling like a terrible human being. If I found myself going into this movie blind, there’s enough not-so-subtle hints about what’s about to unfurl. I had my legs firmly crossed at the video shown in class of genital mutilation. Ew.

Maybe my love of Game of Thrones and Vikings has desensitised me a little, but this wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Okay, let me put that into perspective. What I was expecting was for the gore to be so bad, my dinner would come back to say hi and I’d have to switch the movie off. So yeah, it’s not that bad. It’s still pretty grim though, I’m thinking eyeballs specifically. It was quite well done too, it didn’t look fake in the slightest.

What half bugged and half amused me though, was how dorky this movie was in places. Minor spoilers in the rest of this paragraph, sorry. One of the characters acquired a bag of free weed earlier in the movie, and decided the best plan to escape once captured was to stuff this bag of weed down the body of one of their dead companions. Once the cannibals started cooking the body, the whole tribe would be so high that the rest of the group could escape, no problems. That was funny enough, but what was even funnier was when they high wore off, and the cannibals got the munchies. Worst. Idea. Ever. But hilarious.

So, what I learnt was that Horror is alright, and that it’s only jump scares that put me off the genre. I’m not saying I’m a converted gore fan, but I’m certainly open to watching more movies like this. I’d just like a better plot, and for the movie to not follow the typical death order that this one does. You could guess who would die in what order within the first 10 minutes if you wanted.  I still don't think I can bring myself to watch it, even if it is just gore rather than jumps...these faces terrify me!

Is there going to be a Green Inferno 2? What was with that ending, anyway? The dream sequence? I was sat all smug having not been scared once, and then that moment quite literally made me throw my cup of tea all over myself!

Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016)

I like to think that I’ll give any movie a shot if someone recommends it to me, but there are two specific movies that I have zero interest in watching. Period Dramas and Zombie Horrors. I’m trying this year though to be more open minded, and with the arrival of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I got the chance to put a tick in both boxes. Plus, the lovely Ruth at FlixChatter is crushing hard on Sam Riley right now, and I feel like I owe it to her to check him out!

Now, I’ve never watched or read the original Pride and Prejudice so forgive me if I manage to completely butcher the plot or make a fool of myself in any other way, but the plot of this movie goes something like this. In an alternative 19th century England, Elizabeth (Lily James) and her sisters are desperately trying to avoid being pushed into marriages whilst also learning how to protect themselves from the zombies that plague the Earth. Along the way, Elizabeth meets Mr Darcy (Sam Riley) who is investigating a possible outbreak.

What struck me first of all was how funny this movie was! I’m not saying I was expecting a straight-faced horror or anything, and I can’t even think of a specific moment to mention, but it was multiple subtle moments in expressions and timing that had me laughing throughout. Plus Matt Smith’s character Parson Collins who was just hilarious every time he was on the screen.

The main reason I can’t get on with period dramas is that the female characters tend to rub me up the wrong way. I don’t know how zombies solved this problem for me but they did! The 5 sisters in this movie are brilliant, they can hold their own ground, stand up for themselves and ultimately - kick ass! The scene where they all got ready for the dance, holstering their knives under their skirts was just great. This brings me on to the rest of the cast. When I first saw the trailer I didn’t recognise many faces, but now, I seem to know everybody! It's always fun trying to remember just where you saw that face.

I think what let me down was my own knowledge of the genre to be honest. I’m sure there were many nods to the original Pride and Prejudice and they would have flown straight over my head. In fact, I might just have to watch it now to find out, but I’m not going to be able to take it seriously anymore!

Now, I can’t finish this review without telling Ruth what I thought of her beloved Sam Riley. Whilst he’s not going to knock Oscar Isaac off the top of my obsession throne, he was rather yummy I must admit! And Ruth I have to know, is his voice always that husky? I could listen to the man talk all day!

Anyway, as someone who dislikes horror and period drama, I had so much with this movie. In fact, I dare say I’m going to be rewatching it soon. 

Edit: I’ve just realised that the movie’s tagline is ‘Bloody Lovely’ and I’ve been laughing for about 10 minutes straight.

Blind Spot Review: Alien (1979)

We’re way out of our comfort zone this month. I think we’re getting braver, but neither Jenna or I watch horror movies. It’s not even the movie itself that’s so bad, it’s trying to go to bed that night that’s the worst! Also, whilst I won’t speak on behalf of Jenna on this point, I don’t do too well with space movies. They tend to be far too clever for my simple mind to follow. Star Wars is the exception!  I'm good with space movies but as someone who lives alone horrors are a big no no, even with someone.  Its the countless nights afterwards when I have to check every cupboard and nook and cranny in my house before I can 'safely' go to bed!  

Which I guess is why Alien (1979) was the perfect choice for our Blind Spot list. I mean, that’s what it’s all about, right? We teamed up for this one, also joined by my fiance, who somehow claims to love this movie despite being a bigger wuss than I when it comes to horror and also appearing to not know what was going to happen!

Thanks to the super helpful opening scene, I can actually explain the plot of this. A commercial towing spacecraft carrying 20,000,000 tons of mineral ore, named Nostromo, is on it’s way back to Earth, along with it’s 7 crew members. The inside of the Nostromo is quiet, until the crew are awoken by the ship’s computer system, Mother. Turns out, they’re not even close to home. Mother has altered their course after picking up a distress signal from another planet, and the crew are forced to investigate, much to the annoyance of some of them.

There’s so much tension between the crew members here that I’d happily watch them all together completely away from the Sci-Fi components of this movie. Speaking of the crew though, there are some huge names here, some that I embarrassingly only knew once I’d looked them up, too. Collectively, we have Executive Officer Kane (John Hurt), Chief Engineer Parker (Yaphet Cotto), Engineering Technician Brett (Harry Dean Stanton), Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt), Navigator Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), Science Officer Ash (Ian Holm) and last but certainly not least, Warrant Officer Ripley (Sigourney Weaver).   I recognised a few of the faces but the only name (other than Sigourney Weaver) I knew was Harry Dean Stanton (because he is Pretty in Pink's dad!!) - we are terrible aren't we....

There are trust issues left, right and centre, grudges held over wages paid, and at some points this crew is on the verge of mutiny. I got so engrossed I forgot what we were watching for a while!

Oh! How could I forget the final crew member, ginger cat Jonesy! Within the first five minutes I felt the need to warn the others, this cat is gonna be an ass. And he was! He was indeed! He got the second biggest jump scare for sure, the little furry bugger. I was rooting for him, though!  I was not!!  Can you spot the one of us that has pets?

Thankfully, this wasn’t nearly as scary as I feared it would be, but I think that’s just the movie’s age. I do imagine this would have been terrifying when it first came out, and some of the final scenes where Ripley was walking alone around the ship with the flashing lights and the ominous music had me quite tense.  I have to admit, I'm not sure that I would personally count this as a typical horror, it had the jumps but I didn't spend the whole time with my head behind a pillow.  In fact due to a long day of bridesmaid dress shopping I nearly dozed off a few times!!

I expected a bit more from this, I seem to do the same thing every time and forget to account for movies aging.  I don't think they have the same impact on us watching for the first time in 2016 as they did for the guys watching it when it came out.  The cast were really great and there were some significant twists that I didn't see coming, at all.  I loved Sigourney Weaver, she was everything I had heard she would be, a strong lead characters, no sidekick here.  My guess is I will get to experience more of her strength in the rest of the films I have yet to see.

I’m really glad I watched Alien. It’s not my go-to movie of choice at all but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ve since heard from colleagues around my office that the second movie in the series is even better. Is that the general consensus?  My Dad agrees...