Hello boils and ghouls, October has finally arrived and you know what that means! It's time for Creepy Cinema on Ganda-Ganda! I honestly can't believe it's been five years of horror movies. I didn't think I was going to last one year, but here we are half a decade later and we're still doing it. If this is the first time you're hearing of Creepy Cinema, I'll give you a quick rundown. I'm terrified of scary movies, I just can't do them. I get scared by anything and have been known to scream quite loudly at the littlest things. My husband Markus on the other hand, has loved them since he was a kid. His knowledge of horror films is so vast and since he's an incredible husband every day, I decided to give him October to indulge in all things creepy. Thus the beginning of Creepy Cinema.
This year, I'll be watching and reviewing ten movies created from 2010 to this current year. I will say that I've gotten better with some genres of scary movies, but in some cases, I'm still the same and can barely watch in one sitting. There have been some incredible movies this year and some stinkers. This year Markus suggested that I implement a rating system to help separate the tricks from the treats. I hope you guys enjoy the offerings this year and don't hesitate to leave me your thoughts on the films below!
1. Get Out - (2017)
I’m obviously super late to the party on this one, but wanted to include it because it was such a great movie and truly one of the most terrifying ones in so many ways. So if you’ve been living under a rock and have no idea what Get Out is about, I’ll give you a quick run down. Basically, the story revolves around a young, interracial couple, Chris and Rose. Chris hasn’t met Rose’s parents, so they decide to spend a weekend at her parent’s country estate. From the start, everything seems a bit off. Let’s be real, her family is real WASPy and there are major Stepford Wives-vibes happening. As the viewer you know that these people are doing something awful and that something terrible is going to happen.
The thing I loved most about this film was how relevant and real it was. There was no sugar coating on anything. It tackles the race issue head on. It was so much more than a “horror movie”. Get Out is not only clever and well acted, it makes you think about the social issues of today. It becomes a conversation starter and hopefully sparks the change for something good. At least, that’s what I think. Either way it’s an incredible film. Usually with these sort of horror movies, I can guess or make predictions and I’m dead on. I was close with this one, but they managed to surprise me with another layer to their horrifying twist. If you haven’t seen Get Out, please do.
2. Beware the Slenderman (2016)
For the first time in Creepy Cinema history, I’m going to write about a documentary, but this documentary is based off of something truly terrifying and worst of all, very very real. Not sure if you know this about me, but I am a huge fan of true crime. I watch tons of crime shows like Dateline, 48 Hours, etc., and listen to lots of podcasts that cover murderers and mysteries. I attribute it to the fact that I watched Unsolved Mysteries with my dad when I was little girl. True crime and mysteries were also so interesting to me, because I always wanted to know why someone could do something so terrible. Also, I don’t trust people, so it’s always good to be educated. So when I heard that they were making a documentary of the horrible story of two 12 year girls that attempted to murder their friend in the spring of 2014, I knew I had to watch.
I don’t want to give too much away, because I think it’s really interesting to know the story and motivation behind why these girls did what they did. It wasn’t something as simple as jealousy or monetary gain, like most true crime stories. It was something completely different, it had to do with the modern day Bogeyman better known as Slenderman. Those that are current with memes and pop culture know who he is and most know that he’s a fictional character meant to scare people. However for these two girls, he wasn’t make-believe, he was very real. The documentary tackles issues of adolescence, parenting, bullying and mental illness. For me, I had problems with the way they tried to downplay the crime that these girls committed. However it does give us an inside look from the point of view of the parents of the two accused girls, and sheds a light on some really tough issues. Of all the things I’ve seen this year, this was by far the scariest and truly hard to watch.
3. The Girl with all the Gifts (2016)
We watched this film on the recommendation from our friends from the U.K. They knew that Markus and I do Creepy Cinema every year and suggested we check it out. Fun fact, scenes were shot in Stoke-on-Trent, the little town we spent Christmas 2016 in. The Girl with all the Gifts is based off the 2014 book of the same name by M.R. Carey. I didn’t know much about the novel or film before watching, and sometimes that’s a good thing. The film is set in the near post-apocalyptic, dystopian future. Everyone pretty much speaks British English except for Glenn Close. Humanity was wiped out by a type of fungal disease that causes everyone to lose their minds and suddenly crave flesh, so this brand of zombies are dubbed “hungries”. The hungries remain dormant, until disturbed by the scent of uninfected humans, at which point they attack you crazy-fast. The only hope for humanity is a small group of gifted children and most importantly one specific girl named Melanie.
Overall, I thought The Girl with all the Gifts was just okay. It wasn’t terrible by any stretch, but it wasn’t great either. In the past five years or so, there has been an onslaught of these female-driven, post-apocalyptic films as well as heaps of zombie films. So for me, the market is just too saturated with movies that contain a lot of the same tropes. I definitely got some 28 Days Later vibes when I was watching, which was refreshing. I also like that the main character was different from most protagonists, however the storytelling was a bit awkward and slighty unmemorable.
