Lightning Round Reviews

I need to knock these out before November just dips out and hello December!

I briefly discussed the films I saw during October, documenting my experience giving some highs and lows and overall feelings about some of the films I saw. I didn’t go through depth for all 20+ but today I am but I do have one rule: I can only give 1-3 sentence reviews and a rating out of five. I made sure to mark them down in the current time as I watched and finished them. Some have 5 out of 5 and some have 3. I don’t think any of them have a 2 but I have gotten that low before…. I am still so mad at The House of Seven Corpses…

So let’s get started in order of viewing! I will also include The Wicker Man because I can and also it was late September (like the 27th) when I watched it so I count it into October.

The Wicker Man (1973) – No one told me this was a borderline musical and I loved that surprise. Loved seeing Christopher Lee and his character having a very interesting internal battle throughout the film. Seeing the actual “wicker man” was exciting and terrifying. 5/5

Dracula (1931) – A classic that was long overdue to watch. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of Bela Lugosi every time he was on screen. 4.5/5

The Lost Boys (1987) – Why did it take me so long to see this? I get the hype! I loved this one and kinda felt a little somethin somethin with David and Michael too. 5/5

WNUF Halloween Special (2013) – If your aesthetic is 80s-90s vhs recordings of local channels, this movie is for you. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this film and it felt like an authentic “found footage” tape. 4/5

The Beast Must Die (1974) – Very recognizable faces (Peter Cushing, Michael Gambon, Marlene Clark, Charles Gray) couldn’t save this movie for me. I was so disappointed in this. So many choices could have been avoided to make this movie better. 3/5

The Old Dark House (1932) – Unexpected watch for sure and even overall atmosphere to the film. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting but what I saw, it didn’t match up to what was in my head. Nice to see Karloff in a film outside of Frankenstein at this time period though. 4/5

Cabin Fever (2002) – FINALLY saw this in its entirety and a nice take on a cabin in the woods type of setting. The special effects are pretty cool and my crush on Rider Strong still holds strong. 4/5

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) – Mr. Toad is not what I came into to watch, I came for Sleepy Hollow and Ichabod. The animation is great, it’s Disney, duh, but I love the atmosphere for the town and the Headless Horseman. 3/5 for Mr. Toad, 4/5 Ichabod.

Stephen King’s Graveyard Shift (1990) – Not a bad adaptation of King’s novel, though I had never read the novel but knew of the title. If you don’t like rats, don’t watch this, there is A LOT of them. Also, shoutout to Brad Dourif in this movie, it was nice to see him outside of Child’s Play content! 3.5/5 

Wes Craven’s Shocker (1989) – I thought this movie was done in the 90s but nah. Mitch Pileggi seemed like he was having a grand time playing the antagonist, I could feel he was enjoying it. I think I’d have to see this movie again to get a fuller grasp of how I feel about it. 3/5

Sleepaway Camp (1983) – I finally saw this movie in its entirety as well and even though the ending is known and heavily spoiled, that didn’t take away the enjoyment I had about the movie. It’s fun, very 80s, the kills were very wild and even the build up to the ending was cool. 4.5/5

Grave Encounters (2011) – If Ghost Adventures did a movie, it would be this movie. That’s the energy I get, almost like a copy/parody of the show but obviously stylized. I liked this movie, it was fun. 4/5

Shudder’s Scare Me (2020) – I wish this movie did more. I liked the limited setting and characters but I wish there was more to this movie, or explored more. The envious, jealous, inferiority complex aspect between the two main characters needed an extra push. 3.5/5

Dead & Buried (1981) – This film was interesting and I felt a lot of different influences yet it is its own entity. I was also pleasantly surprised to see Jack Albertson in a very villainous role and a very young Robert Englund before A Nightmare on Elm Street was a thing. 3.5/5

Final Destination (2000) – Another movie that I saw in its entirety made me really like it. I see why a lot of people enjoy this movie, it being a big part of late 90s to early 2000s teen driven horror genre. The kills were unique and cool, I liked a lot of the actors and now I need to check out the sequels. 4/5

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) – An aspiring serial killer has a documentary team follow him and what transpires is pretty epic. The titled character is charismatic, very matter of factly and immortal? At least that’s what the ending gave me! 4/5 

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) – A classic, fun musical from Touchstone Pictures before Disney shut it down. Like I can watch this movie every day and not get tired of it at all. 5/5

Scare Package (2020) – I miss the days of Blockbuster, Family Video and local video stores but this movie combines that with a weird undertone of how The Cabin in the Woods functions, too. It’s an okay anthology film, some stories are better executed than others but Joe Bob Briggs has an appearance! 3.5/5 

The Omen (1976) – Another classic horror film that was just merely chosen to fill in the theme. Between this film and The Wicker Man, I think I’ll eventually do a topic post on religion in horror, specifically 70s. 5/5 

Blood: The Last Vampire (2000) – For those who don’t know, I am a huge fan of anime. I’ve watched anime since I was a kid and when it’s horror anime, even better. This is less than 60 minutes, jump right into action, quite easy to follow and overall, I had a lot of fun watching. 4.5/5

Dog Soldiers (2002) – I saw this before maybe last year or 2019 and it’s a cool werewolf film if you have seen The Howling or An American Werewolf in London, maybe Wolf or Bad Moon. I’d put it in the same ballpark as the first two former films, similar vibes, military characters, big werewolves. 4/5 

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) – A musical that’s in my top 5 of ALL time. It’s fun, doesn’t take itself too seriously, in a way it’s a life changing musical. And the songs are very catchy and the characters are all memorable in their own way. 4.5/5

The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) – I went into this with some expectations and this movie met them and gave me a different perspective on how movies can surprise you when you THINK the movie is about but it isn’t. It’s a well made, well done, worthy sequel to Frankenstein. 4.5/5

I’m surprised that this is long and that I even watched this many movies but these are just quick and short reviews without giving too much away. I hope you guys are watching some great or enjoying horror movies this year. There are some great ones out there released this year and the last 2-5 years to be honest. I think horror movies in general are getting better and better and with a lot of these films in my watchlist, to go back and watch earlier horror and see how even then, they’ve progressed.

What did you watch in October? Leave a comment and perhaps it’s a movie I haven’t seen yet (which is a lot cos it takes me forever)!