Honestly if you don’t know what Frankenstein is about, I don’t know why you’re listening to a horror movie podcast.

I heard a lot of mixed reviews about this, but I tried to stay away from as many spoilers as possible, as if this story could really be spoiled. Del Toro does add some new elements to the classic tale, some might say maybe too many new elements. Some might say that. I’m not saying it. But some might. It is kind of long.

This movie is beautifully shot, albeit sometimes you can tell it was Made For Streaming (cough cough why is the sunlight in my face cough cough), but for the most part it’s colorful, playful, and imaginative, with backdrops and settings that match the incredible costumes. Mia Goth looks ethereal in all of her elaborate gowns, veils, and feathers. Her wedding dress deserves its own moment of silence. The bandaged look around her arms? So major. The costumes tell their own stories, and they do a wonderful job at that.

Oscar Isaac gets hotter every time I see him in a movie. Don’t know how he manages that but he manages it well. Even though he’s pretty evil in this he still looks good.

Jacob Elordi does an amazing job as the Creature, he proves himself time and time again, with physical and emotional acting. He captivates and intrigues. He shines.The story is good, it is a bit hammed up at times and Del Toro is quite heavy handed; so much so that it feels like being hit in the head with a hammer. Yes, I understand the story you’re trying to tell Mr. Del Toro, thank you for making sure I do. Also not a big fan of the narration aspect, don’t think it added much to the story. I really could have done without the Danish sailors in their entirety and this would have been a lot better.

Christoph Waltz was a pleasant surprise, although his character has little to no narrative impact. I always enjoy seeing him on screen but I felt as though he was a little pointless.

All in all I really had a good time watching this. It’s compelling, emotional, gorgeous, and thrilling. And God Damn You Netflix For A Limited Theatrical Release.

8/10

While a shooting a low budget zombie movie the crew is attacked by a real life zombie. Instead of running away, the director takes advantage of the windfall and keeps putting his cast in harms way to get his shots. And then the rest of the movie happens.

I’m struggling with how much I should spoil an 8 year old movie, but I’ll just say this is a bait and switch done masterfully well. I’ve seen movies that start as a comedy, and end up being a horror comedy, and movies that start out as a horror movie and end up as a horror comedy, but this is the first I’ve seen that starts out as 100% a zombie movie, and then transitions into a 100% comedy.

I was pleasantly surprised, because the horror movie was pretty bad, and when it transitioned to a comedy movie, it was so much more interesting and competently shot. It actually made me respect the filmmakers all the more that they could be convincing as both good and terrible at the same time.

This is less of a horror movie, and more of a celebration of B-filmmaking. As a result, it ends up being an ode to all the reasons why people love low budget zombie movies. The quick and dirty storytelling, the fun action, the over the top special effects, and the ingenuity displayed in the filmmaking.

Mostly, I’m just glad that I didn’t have to watch the opening horror movie for an entire hour and 40 minutes

9/10

This episode is soaked in an intense amount of hater-ade, due to Bryce hating Chris Stuckmann for no real reason.

Shelby Oaks is written and directed by Chris Stuckmann, the movie reviewer you get recommended if you don’t sign into YouTube. the film is about a woman’s search for her missing sister who was a (hold onto your hat) Vlogging celebrity. The mystery of the disappearance is unraveled through a series of horror tropes and clichés where it is revealed at the end that everyone got Stuckmannized.

I’ve got to admit, I really didn’t want to like this movie going into the theater. There’s something about a crowd sourced movie by one of the most milquetoast, non-committal YouTube movie reviewers getting a wide release that just makes me feel like I’m living in a dystopian reality. However, I was pleasantly surprised that Shelby Oaks was actually a pretty bad movie.

This is exactly the type of movie that I would expect from a milquetoast non-committal YouTube movie reviewer. Its narrative style goes from found footage and documentary in the opening sequences and then just kind of abandons ship and proceeds to just be a normal Hollywood horror film. The same lack of decision making is demonstrated through a variety of plot devices that cover numerous horror tropes to explain the disappearance. Was it a stalking killer, a demon, a cult ritual killing, maybe just scary ghosts? Stuckmann clicks yes on all of them and proceeds to make a pretty derivative, boring horror movie.

The most egregious part of the film was what led to most of my enjoyment. No not enjoyment, schadenfreude. I’m talking about the bizarre production and directing choices that broke any semblance of suspension of disbelief and had me constantly asking if I was being Stuckmannized. There were so many unintentionally funny moments in this movie that had me wondering if Stuckmann knew how time worked or if he took into account how humans behave in reality. Also, the film completely shoots itself in the foot with a plot that reveals way too much too early for trying to rely on mystery to be its hook. I’ll get into my nitpicks in the spoilers section, but suffice it to say that I was chuckling at the movies expense several times throughout.

This isn’t to say that there weren’t good parts. the film is a patchwork of tried and true suspense techniques that are visually executed as good as most horror movies. The acting is fine, although there isn’t much to work with in terms of character development or motivation outside of what is implied through familial relations.

Anyway it sucked.

3/10

Several years after the events of the original black phone movie, Finny and his sister Gwen are still haunted by the past. Finn is angry and aggressive with the people around him, and Gwen consistently receives terrifying visions when dreaming. As Gwen’s nightmares lead her to a Christian youth camp her mother used to work at, Finn is forced to tag along while they look around for spooky clues like in scooby doo. Due to a snowstorm, Finn, Gwen, and Gwen’s totally not boyfriend Ernesto find themselves trapped in the campgrounds, and things quickly turn sour as the paranormal activity ramps up. Is the grabber really gone? And why were they led to this campsite? For answers to these questions and more, go watch the film or continue this review.

I find Black Phone 2 to be a much more memorable film than Black Phone 1. The frozen mountain scene gives the film a feeling of isolation and hopelessness. Because the Grabber died in the first movie, Black Phone 2 is able to dive deeper into the supernatural side of the story, which I believe works a lot better for the franchise. The Grabber’s already devilish look is taken to an even darker level, given that he is now basically a literal demon. Much of the tension in the movie comes from the dreams that Gwen has. The mood of the scene dramatically shifts every time she falls asleep. I think these scenes are well done, and while it might be blasphemous to say, it reminded me a lot of The Nightmare on Elm Street movies. However, the movie really suffers from some pretty surface-level dialogue that ends up being incredibly cringy at times. In my opinion, it is not necessary for the protagonist of the movie to say a vulgar, witty quip in every scene. An actual line in this movie is, “fuck you with a dinosaur dick”. Said in a pretty tense and serious scene, by the way. It doesn’t feel true to life, and neither do many of the characters. Highlights of the cast were Demián Bichir as Armando, the owner of the camp, as well as Mason Thames as Finney Blake, who gives a powerfully emotional monologue towards the end. I had some fun watching this movie, but it isn’t something I would rush to the theater to see.
Score 6/10

This film follows Jane, a lonely librarian who finds a note at her desk with her name on it and a $50 bill, instructing her to play the game. She is helped by Brace, a new friend, in solving the puzzles and getting double the money every time she finds a new envelope. Jane and Brace quickly find out that she is playing a very dangerous game. Her strength, fortitude, and sanity are strained as she finds out just how far she’ll go for the cash, and the thrill.

I found this movie because of some tweet that had a few hundred likes saying it was some sort of hidden gem. I looked it up and could not find much about it, save a couple articles and Letterboxd reviews. I found a rip of it on Youtube through a Reddit post and told the guys, hey this is the movie we’re gonna do this week. It was shot on video, never had a wide release or any sort of release at all. It was made by writer-director Clifton Holmes, along with his brother Dwayne producing, and co-written by Richard Laymon, the author of the book this film is based on. From an article on steemit.com, user modernzorker states that the film is incomplete, not in editing or shooting but in ADR and sound mixing, apparently all the sound we hear was the live recordings of each scene. 

With all that said, I loved this film. I love finding horror that is so underground that even though this movie was posted for free on Youtube eight years ago, it only has 12k views. It has 1.6k watches on Letterboxd. It basically doesn’t exist. While you’re watching it, you feel like it shouldn’t exist.

I don’t say that to mean it is a so-called ‘cursed’ film, like the movie Antrum claims to be. I mean that it probably shouldn’t exist, and it almost doesn’t. The only way to watch it is in 240p on Youtube or buy a DVD rip of it from some dude on eBay claiming he’s the only one who sells them (and yes, listener, I did buy it for nine Great British pounds). It basically isn’t real. 

It’s hard to watch in 240p, I was begging for at least 480 but you get what you get when you wanna watch something like this. The low quality adds to the uneasiness and uncertainty of the film’s vibe, but at some points it just sucks not being able to discern what is happening, mostly when they are shooting at night.

All the lore aside, this film is excellent. It reminds me of Blair Witch and Clerks in the way it is shot. With a limited budget, we only see the aftermath of gore instead of the action happening, which I think works in its favor. You feel the dread alongside Jane, but she also is a very unflinching, dedicated protagonist. She is brave, and you know that she is from the start.

There’s almost no music in this movie, save for a few moments of characters listening to music, and every time we see our antagonist a crescendo of guitars rises to the front. The only other time we hear sound other than voices is when Jane is playing Silent Hill on her PlayStation, we hear the footsteps of Harry Mason running through the endless fog.

This film is creepy, wacky, captivating, and so much more fun knowing that you’re probably one of the only people in your generation to ever have watched this. It was such a treat and tonally great for spooky season. It’s slow at first, but as the tension builds it just goes off the rails in the best possible ways. It’s a crazy movie. Look up (aka click here) Richard Laymon’s In The Dark on Youtube to watch it, you will not regret it.

10/10

Website: http://horrormovietalk.com

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/horrormovietalk

Good Boy is what we are reviewing this week on Horror Movie Talk. Also, I will be saying good boy a lot on this episode. Stay tuned.

When his owner Todd moves into rural home, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever named Indy starts noticing strange shapes in the shadows. Told completely through Indy’s point of view, we see as supernatural forces increasingly grow more menacing and seem to affect Todd. Indy proceeds to stare blankly and do very little to warn Todd, but who can criticize that face?

Good Boy’s charm relies solely on its premise of being a supernatural horror movie told completely from a dog’s POV. It’s the type of premise that entices you, and makes you wonder how they are going to pull it off. In this case, they barely make a case for a feature length movie. 

The highest praise I can give this film is that it is a spiritual successor to Paranormal Activity. There are a lot of lingering shots that exploit the Eye Spy/Where’s Waldo genre of that franchise. 

Another good aspect  is the score, which is perfectly sparse and effective for the mood of the film.

While it is engaging to look at a cute dog for a while, the lack of compelling plot developments makes it feel like a short film stretched to its breaking point. 

The film is filled with similar scenes of Indy seeing figures in the darkness creeping towards him interspersed with some genuinely good jump scares. All the while, Todd is getting sicker and more of an asshole to Indy throughout.

The implied explanations for the haunting and Todd’s decline are many and non-committal. It could be a cursed house, or environmental factors. Or maybe that giant entryway into hell in the basement. Or it could just be cancer and the specter of death. Unfortunately the film never really lands on one and leaves them all open to interpretation.

However, the regular expectations for hollywood polish should be tempered with the fact that this film was never really meant for a theatrical wide release. In reality, this is an extremely high quality low budget independent film that performed so well at festivals that it earned a wide release. If this was only released on streaming, it would be declared a hidden gem, but in the bright lights next to big budget releases, this film is outclassed.

All that being said I do love the underlying narrative technique and did enjoy watching Indy’s exploits. The hour and 12 minute runtime does feel long at times, but somehow I am still left wanting more, and hope someone picks up this gimmick and makes a truly great dog POV horror movie.

6/10

Lake Mungo is about an Australian family that loses their 16-year-old daughter in a drowning accident while having a picnic at a local dam. As time passes, each member of the family grieves in their own way, with some wanting to move past the tragic event, while others deny that Alice even died at all. As strange things begin happening in the home, the family must piece together Alice’s past in order to make sense of her death. 

Lake Mungo is a mood (as the kids would say). It’s not super scary or exciting, but it is thoroughly creepy and left me feeling very unsettled. In true documentary fashion, the movie relies on old photos and videos to piece together the story, and every time a ghost appears on the screen, I feel unnerved. The secret sauce is the simplicity of the film. There are no jump scares or suspense-building scenes. A character just describes an event, and we are shown a picture or video to accompany the tale, leaving the viewer to put the puzzle together. The ghostly images are nothing more than blurry photos of a girl standing in a corner, but for some reason that really freaked me out. I also think the movie does a good job of sticking to the documentary format without getting too weird with it, except for one scene that no documentary ever in the history of the world would show. Other than that, it feels like a pretty real documentary. 

Score 8/10

Him is a story about an all-American boy who learns to love an all-American sport. Cameron and his family are obsessed with football, specifically the football team, the Saviors. Encouraged by his father, the young Cameron begins to idolize the Saviors’ quarterback, Isaiah White, who apparently is the goat. As Cameron grows, he dedicates his life to the sport and is soon well on his way to being drafted in the NFL. With his hero Isaiah White on his last season, it is even likely he will be replacing the goat himself as quarterback for the Saviors. To celebrate, as well as help train his replacement, Isaiah invites Cameron to his secret football bunker for a weeklong sports bootcamp/slumber party. 

From the synopsis I just gave you may be wondering where the horror element comes into the film. Well, basically football is just evil and I will leave it at that until the spoilers. I really enjoyed the first two acts of the movie. The tension was steadily built and I was finding myself more and more interested in the dark underbelly of this world. However, for me the tension never quite reached the apex the film was going for and I found myself disappointed with act 3. Although I will say that act 3 is not devoid of delightful gore and surprises, the climax just didn’t do it for me. I wanted there to be a bigger pay off than there was, yet I am left wondering why I expected much of anything given that the only real character development we get throughout the movie is related to how much Cameron does or does not enjoy football. I think it is a really fun idea to combine the sports genre with the horror genre, and I don’t think Him does an entirely terrible job, it just could have been better. 

Score 6/10

In a dystopian America, fifty young men are chosen to participate in a walk with no finish line for a chance to win endless riches. The catch: the winner is the only one who survives.

I went into this film saying, oh so I’m just gonna watch a bunch of dudes walk for almost two hours? And yes, that is exactly what happens in the film. But, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson are a great pair, they perform incredibly well as the two main characters. There is not an actor in this film that is unconvincing; I truly believe they were on a grueling walk for their lives. Like I said, yes it is a film where we are just watching men walk and die and walk and die over and over again, but the script is absolutely rock solid. I teared up, I laughed, I winced, I flinched, I felt all sorts of things. This is the ultimate dudes rock movie. It reminded me of how I felt watching Stand by Me for the first time. I loved this.

10/10

Paranormal Investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga think they are retired from ghost busting, but just when you think you’re out, the demons pull you back in. The Smurl family in Pennsylvania start experiencing malevolent supernatural happenings after the grandfather gives a terrible birthday gift to the second oldest daughter. A broken mirror. Gee thanks Grandpa.

The hauntings ramp up and soon it is apparent that a demon is infesting the house.

The Warrens reluctantly engage with the Smurls and soon find out that the demon has actually lured them into a trap. 

This is the ninth installment in the Conjuring Universe films, 11th if you include Wolves at the Door and Curse of La Llarona. In my opinion, if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. That’s not to say that this movie is bad. This movie along with all the other conjuring movies is competently made, maintains a consistent style, and has good acting. My criticism is that like the other films, this one prioritizes atmosphere and technique over substance.

A beef I have with these movies is that they all suffer from what I call spooky house syndrome, where every house is dimly lit with 25 watt bulbs, and is suffering from a concerning amount of mold damage and electrical problems. Are they trying to scare us with ghosts or the horrors of home ownership?

Similarly, the script is competent, but surface level. I can’t tell you anything about the personalities of any of the characters outside of the tired tropes of “the protective father”, and the “brat sister”. 

What the film does well is display some of the most professional turning around acting I’ve ever seen. After four films as Lorraine Warren, Vera Farmiga has perfected the art of slowly turning her head for effect. It works so well at establishing the tension that they do it about 178 times in this film.

The film makers know you are coming for tension and jump scares, so that’s what they prioritize here. There are some really great scenes of creepy dolls, whispered voices, and foreboding darkness that are masterclasses in technique. However they are all interchangeable and do little to move the story forward other than just increase the intensity. 

6/10