I started my Halloween horror viewing season off on a great note this year, so I thought I would share it with you guys. There are two excellent horror films playing at theaters currently, and if you are a fan of these kinds of movies I can only say one thing: GET OUT AND SUPPORT THESE MOVIES!!! Its a fairly simple concept. They make a movie, they put it out, you pay money to support it... then they can make more movies with your money. Pretty easy, no? Ok, lets get to the movies.
Tara and I decided it was time for us to put our money where our mouths were and went to Time Square AMC 25 to catch Adam Green's next horror classic, Hatchet 2. The original Hatchet was one of the most well balanced horror movies of all time, mixing light hearted dialogue and funny situations with buckets of blood and guts. The main villain, Victor Crowley, is easy to like and becomes a member of the Horror Hall of Fame in terms of being a classic killer. He ranks right up there with the Big 3 (Freddy, Jason, & Mikey Myers)... and depending on how many sequels they churn out, may move past those guys. The new film picks up right where the last left of, with Marybeth (now Danielle Harris) narrowly escaping Crowley and retreating out of the swamp to look for help. She runs to local weirdo Reverend Zombie (Tony Todd)
who realizes that he needs to get rid of Crowley for good in order to open the swamp up to tourism and make the big bucks. So he puts together a riot squad of local hunters and trappers that are ready to rock and roll and kill Crowley for good... and $5000 bucks. Zombie figures that its money well spent, cause he knows a secret that might lead to Crowley, and the whole hunting party, going bye bye. The kills are great, Crowley is a beast, and the cast is superb. Todd and Harris both give excellent performances, and Harris shows that she can topline a movie with no problem. Adam Green is on the verge of becoming one of the premiere horror autuers in the industry... remember CCD said it first!!! In addition, this is the first UNRATED & UNCENSORED movie released in theaters in the past 25 years. If this does well, we will see more of these types of movies on the big screen... so go check it out!!!
Next up, we get Matt Reeves newest film, Let Me In. Sometimes it pays to have good friends. Reeves grew up next door to real life TV/Movie making superhero JJ Abrams, and helped him co develop the TV show Felicity, which started both of their careers. So no Reeves, no Felicity, no Lost & Star Trek... comprende? Since Abrams has been given catre blanche (deservingly so), he tapped Reeves to direct the monster movie Cloverfield... which was great. So he was the one they chose to remake the Swedish art house hit Let The Right One In. This isn't an exact remake (like changing the location from Sweden to New Mexico), but it keeps enough details of the original to be considered a faithful adapation. It's also not your typical vampire movie... it drops the whole oversized teeth and tall, hypnotic demeanor of typical vampires and gives you Abby, a 12 year old girl who seems vunerable and confused. Abbey puts vampirism into a real life light. Her character asks the question: What if you were 12 and needed blood to survive? How would you gather it... where would you live... how would you cover your condition up amongst adults... these questions all give a real humanity to the story. Abby meets Owen, a fellow 12 year old dealing with bullies and his parents divorce. They become soul mates, and begin to develop what can possiblely become a life long (and alot longer) bond. The cast is wonderful, featuring Elias Koteas as a detective investing some bizarre murders and Richard Jenkins as Abby's adult protector. Owen is played by Kodi Smith-Mcphee and the best performance of the movie goes to Chloe Moretz as Abby. Wow, this kid has it. After destroying Kick Ass as Hit Girl, she is fantastic as the innocent/monsterous vampire teen. I highly recoomend this movie, as it is not your traditional horror film. It is a true drama in its story telling and is beautifully done. i could have done without the few minutes of CGI that reeves used (you will know it when you see it), but it so short lived it hardly makes a difference. Go see this movie. It is great. A start paying attention to Ms. Moretz. That kid is unreal!!!
Enjoy some horror movies this October and tell us what you think if you seen any of these movies yet in the comment section below. Happy spook season...
