Coraline
Review:
Coraline is a personal favorite of mine. Many people know of this movie as the movie that scarred them during their childhoods, mine included. I remember looking through movies on Netflix at my best friend’s sleepover as a kid, only to find a harmless looking animated movie. The poster looked friendly enough, so we decided to watch it. This was one of the worst decisions of my life. Not because it was a bad movie, it’s brilliant, but because it was the scariest thing I had ever seen. I remember that none of us admitted that we were scared, though no one slept that night.
After rewatching it recently, I rediscovered the beauty of this film. Not only is the stop motion art style beautiful and the story interesting, but it’s still terrifying up until this day. It’s a war crime that the movie was marketed at PG. I can’t imagine how many other kids became traumatized such as myself.
9.5/10
Summary:
Coraline is a film about a young girl who moves into a new house, away from her old life. Along with the many wacky characters that live around her, she discovers a small door in the living room that leads to an alternate world that closely resembles her own. At first, the alternate reality seems like a perfect version of her own. But over time, the truly insidious nature of the button-eye realm she discovered.
Hereditary
Review:
In my opinion, Hereditary is one of the best, slow-burn horror movies around. It’s a brutal watch accompanied by beautiful acting and a near-perfect soundtrack, cementing it as a modern masterpiece. Doing my best to avoid spoilers, about halfway through the movie, the plot takes a turn leading to one of the most masterfully terrifying scenes in cinematic history. Once you watch the movie, you will know exactly what scene I am referring to.
I cannot genuinely recommend this movie enough, it’s a perfect Halloween horror movie. Just make sure you don’t have anything to do the following morning because this movie will leave you with a dark pit in your stomach throughout the night.
Summary:
Hereditary is a story about a twisted family with a sinister horror looming over them. When the matriarch of the Graham family passes away, mysterious events begin to occur, with cryptic and unholy secrets beginning to reveal.
9/10
Halloween (1978):
Review:
There is not much that can be said that hasn’t been said already about this literal Halloween classic. Halloween is the film that started the meteoric rise of slasher. Although it was shot with a very small budget, the movie still holds up today and is always a good time to revisit. There is something so raw and unfiltered about it that makes it so enjoyable to watch.
I would highly recommend getting a bunch of friends together, maybe on Netflix party now due to Covid. I guarantee you will have a good time.
Summary:
Halloween is a relatively straightforward movie about a serial killer that, after being locked away for 15 years due to his first murder, is released only to return to his old town to find his next victims.
8/10