Here we are on the morning of Devil’s Night, the eve of All Hallows’ Eve, and here’s an update to the movie-watching project that has the world of cinema enraptured and aghast.
Will we make it to 31 moobies in 31 days? It would require watching eleven movies in the next 40 hours, which is probably technically possible, but probably not worth quitting our jobs over. Nevertheless, we press on.
14. Trick ‘r Treat (2009)
Mark’s rating: 10/10
Jeri’s rating: 9/10
Seen Before? Mark: Yes Jeri: Yes
Both stayed awake? Yes
Mark’s review: Perfect movie to watch on Halloween night. It’s become part of the spooky season canon for me. The interconnected anthology structure rewards repeat viewings. Funny, spooky, atmospheric. Even succeeds at little character moments. I love it. It’s a shame this hasn’t become a franchise.
Jeri’s review: Very good moobie. Love the intertwined story premise. The only hitch in the giddy-up for it being a 10 is the ending doesn’t quite make sense. I can’t explain without spoilers. Otherwise, very good. I like the little guy.
15. Ernest Scared Stupid (1994)
Mark’s rating: 7.5/10
Jeri’s rating: 7/10
Seen Before? Mark: Yes Jeri: Yes
Both stayed awake? Yes
Mark’s review: A nostalgic favorite of mine. Genuinely funny in quite a few spots, even as an adult. The sets, props, and monster costumes are all more detailed and better than they had to be. Just a fun watch.
Jeri’s review: Troll masks and costumes are all really good. Good movie for kids. It is funny. I didn’t love all the use of extreme closeups. An alright moobie.
16. Videodrome (1983)
Mark’s rating: 6/10
Jeri’s rating: 5/10
Seen Before? Mark: Yes Jeri: No
Both stayed awake? Yes
Mark’s review: Very fuckin’ odd flick. Hallucinatory and confusing by design, though I’m not sure that always works in its favor. It gestures at the problems with mass media consumption and presents a lot of nightmarish sequences. I appreciate a lot about it, but Cronenberg has better films.
Jeri’s review: Hard to follow. Movie never tells you why “Videodrome” was created in the first place. I hated the juicy sounds, which was maybe intentional to make the audience uncomfortable. Effects are great and probably look even better on an old VHS.
17. Alien (1979)
Mark’s rating: 8/10
Jeri’s rating: 7/10
Seen Before? Mark: Yes Jeri: No
Both stayed awake? No (Had to watch second half in the morning. We’re old folks now)
Mark’s review: Excellent set design and use of sound. Everything is part biological and part mechanical. Monitors beep like heartbeats, aliens have rigid mouth piston extremities (giggity). Great worldbuilding without exposition dumps. Pacing is deliberately slow at first, and some creative effects don’t quite hold up perfectly, but overall, a very good sci-fi horror.
Jeri’s review: Good – Clear storyline. The effects are awesome for the time. The cat was good. Bad – Character actions and choices made me angry, and I didn’t wanna be mad at the characters for a whole movie.
18. The Ring (2002)
Mark’s rating: 2/10
Jeri’s rating: 3/10
Seen Before? Mark: Yes Jeri: Yes
Both stayed awake? Yes
Mark’s review: Corny, dumb, and dull. Our leads don’t so much act as they pose and breathily recite lines. In the universe of this movie, there are multi-week feature newspaper stories about horses dying at a farm. In it’s defense, all the shots were in focus and some scenes had interesting lighting. Utter crap.
Jeri’s review: I saw it a million years ago and I remembered it being better than it is. The entire middle section of the film is unnecessary. The main characters make dumb decisions (like a lot of horror movies). Could have been a short film, because the middle section really does nothing. The effect of the girl coming out of the TV was p. neat for the time. The lady should have left the horse alone. (Irritated that the lady used a ballpoint pen on original documents in an archive. Ridiculous!)
19. The Mothman Prophecies (2002)
Mark’s rating: 5/10
Jeri’s rating: 5/10
Seen Before? Mark: Yes Jeri: Yes
Both stayed awake? Yes
Mark’s review: I like the mythology of Mothman. I listened to the audiobook this movie is based on. This film flirts with being interesting, but the runtime is overlong and flabby. Some of the interstitials and scenes look like a 90s music video (in a bad way.) There’s a good movie hiding somewhere in this story. Maybe somebody should try again.
Jeri’s review: Enjoyed the lighting and cinematography. Repeated use of two red lights (like eyes) was clever and good. The audio is frustratingly quiet for most of it. I’m not clear why certain things happened to certain characters or how it ties into the plot, unless that was just there to move the main character into different locations.
20. Longlegs (2024)
Mark’s rating: 7.5/10
Jeri’s rating: 9/10
Seen Before? Mark: No Jeri: No
Both stayed awake? Yes
Mark’s review: I liked it. The lead lady seemed to be a kind of on-the-spectrum Clarice Starling, and Nic Cage was liek all the spooky supernatural horror movie serial killers amplified into a clownish monster. And it works, somehow! Legitimately creepy throughout. Seems to have some theme about harmful adherence to traditions and/or religion. I would watch it again.
Jeri’s review: I really enjoyed the story. Maintained a mystery while still being clear. Excellent acting. Nic Cage was so great I didn’t realize it was him. Cinematography was very well done. Putting flashbacks in a different aspect ratio was clever. Highly recommend.
Happy Halloween everybody. We’ll keep burning that midnight oil and watching these horror flicks. Companion and Night of the Living Dead are coming up. Look for more reviews, possibly in November. Boo! ^_^
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