Double Feature: Pet Sematary (2019) & Snowpiercer (2013)

As we put the holidays behind us, the normal double feature is back in action. This time, we’re catching up with some 2010s movie. The first film is this year’s Pet Sematary remake of the adaptation. The second is 2013’s Snowpiercer which has been on my to-watch list for much longer than I had intended. Let’s check it out!

Pet Sematary (2019)

Director: Kevin Kolsch, Dennis Widmyer

Cast: Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz, John Lithgow, Jete Laurence, Obssa Ahmed, Alyssa Brooke Levine

Dr. Louis Creed and his wife, Rachel, relocate from Boston to rural Maine with their two young children. The couple soon discover a mysterious burial ground hidden deep in the woods near their new home.  – IMDB

I’ve never read the source material or seen the 1989 Pet Sematary adaptation so I am basing this review solely on my feeling towards the story interpreted here and how it was executed.

Pet Sematary is an interesting one to talk about. On one hand, Stephen King stories are always quite an intriguing entry to discover as his storytelling skills are quite extraordinary especially with the execution of a story to its characters to the premise. This one is about bringing back the dead and how it all starts with a Pet Sematary and the burial of a cat. The story itself is a lot of fun and remains in that dark and creepy phase because any horror watcher, even the not so seasoned, knows that black cats are bad and bringing back the dead is not a good thing. There’s a lot of playing with bad omens in this story and yet the characters go right ahead to take its viewers into this creepy place as the neighbor takes a new resident of the city deep in the forest. At the same time, simply the different rituals of pet burials at the beginning are enough to bring a little chill down the spine with some creepy kids and scary masks.

While Pet Sematary does build a decent horror atmosphere, it isn’t doing a lot of difference. There are some rather predictable scares, jumpscares and whatnot. Its more expected to happen. At the same time, other than a rather convincing John Lithgow playing the neighbor and the daughter working out rather well, I’m not a huge fan of any of the other cast as Jason Clarke doesn’t stand out of a first choice for this role. He isn’t bad but then, its the normal horror film acting here.

Horror movies are so overused in all its genres that sometimes its hard to find that place of being unique. There’s a good story here and I would assume that it all goes to the strength of the source material and an alright execution. It’d be interesting to hear what others would think of this one: those who can compare to the source material or the first film adaptation.

Snowpiercer (2013)

Director (and co-screenplay): Bong Joon Ho

Cast: Chris Evans, Jamie Bell, Tilda Swinton, Kang-ho Song, Ed Harris, John Hurt, Octavia Spencer, Ko Asung, Ewen Bremner, Alison Pill, Luke Pasqualino, Vlad Ivanov

In a future where a failed climate-change experiment has killed all life except for the lucky few who boarded the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe, a new class system emerges. – IMDB

Snowpiercer sets its story in a future where the world has frozen over and the only survivors live on the train. As the lowest class tries to break forward to the leader at the front of the train, the different sections that the group pass through has its somewhat subtle hints on classes and are a big highlight in this story. I’m not sure why South Koreans seem to thrive on movies set in fighting through enclosed spaces especially on trains (like Train to Busan), but its definitely a great setting. Snowpiercer isn’t just a great setting in its claustrophobic and tight spaces where it does all its action, but its also a story packed with a lot of twist whether its group of characters or its plot twists and the different surprises that it delivers. Its visually very nice as each shot is framed very well, using all its elements and different areas having their different colors and such. Whether its pacing and execution, Snowpiercer does a fabulous job at delivering a good deal of drama, action and thrills.

Any good script also needs a great cast to deliver those great performances. In this case, the casting is right on point. With Chris Evans as the main character Curtis who leads the operation but doesn’t want to be considered a leader to his right hand man Edgar (Jamie Bell) and the no-nonsense mom who wants to find her son back, Tanya (Octavia Spencer) with a powerful presence of a disabled man, Gilliam (John Hurt). Along the way, they pick up the security mastermind of the train to help them escape, Namgong Minsoo (Kang ho Song) and daughter with some odd powers Yona (Ko Asung). As I mention Kang-ho Song which is a fave of this director specifically, Song is a great actor who has a huge range of acting capabilities as seen in another South Korean film I had seen previously called A Taxi Driver (review) The dynamic of this group brings a lot to the table as their personality does contrast each other and adds to their characters. Each having their own depth and further character development as the story moves along.

On the other side, the villainous side are a lot of lesser known group of characters or perhaps well reflected in the whole concept of the top tier always being less people with just more resources. In the forefront, defending the leader of this train is Mason, played spectacularly by Tilda Swinton. Along the way, they have a little cameo performance from a school teacher on the train by Alison Pill which doesn’t do a lot but has its moment. Finally, at the front of the train comes the leader Wilford who is played by Ed Harris. The band of villains might seem small but there are some great ones mentioned here and then there is the more assassin type who just never dies. I think if anything, the unrelenting bad guys or even sidekick always seems to be the most annoying to watch, probably, my only minor issue with this movie.

That’s it for this Double Feature!
Have you seen 2019’s Pet Sematary and/or Snowpiercer? Thoughts?

Horror Marathon: IT (2017)

If you missed yesterday’s review of the 1990 miniseries IT, you can read it HERE.

IT is easily one of my most anticipated movies of 2017. The images and the atmosphere and seeing the Bill Skarsgard transformation was all really captivating. It may be the horror genre of films I’ve chosen lately but I’ve been struggling to be truly frightened by a film and seeing as I have a deep-rooted fear of clowns, this seemed like one that would do the trick.

IT (2017)

Director: Andy Muschietti

Cast: Bill Skarsgard, Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Nicolas Hamilton, Owen Teague, Stephen Bogaert

A group of bullied kids band together when a shapeshifting demon, taking the appearance of a clown, begins hunting children. – IMDB

IT is everything that you can imagine it to be. It does atmosphere and the horror really well. IT himself portrayed by Bill Skarsgard and his eye tricks are downright creepy. This movie is the IT that I had expected from the 1990 miniseries. However, with that said, I have to say that IT also suffered from a great PR team. Maybe not so great and also why I usually try to stay away from horror movie trailers because a lot of the effective scares were shown off in the trailers making all the scares rather expected with a few exceptions. Still, the experience of watching IT was a tense thriller with horror elements. And that hits my soft spot because I love movies that gives me a lot of thrill and has me anxious and tense.

For this remake, I can’t do this write-up without first talking about Pennywise. The 2017 Pennywise finds a balance between the friendly clown and striking all those horror elements perfectly. Bill Skarsgard has had some supporting roles here and there, even for myself, as I looked through his filmography, those roles didn’t quite leave any impressions because it wasn’t significant enough. The only one I know him from is as one of the main characters in Netflix Original Hemlock Grove and that show is plenty odd. I have a love hate relationship with it on various elements and thats why I haven’t finished the final season yet. However, my impressions of Bill Skarsgard stems from there. I think he is a fine looking guy so its hard to imagine him as Pennywise and actually pulling off this role so remarkably that we can forget the man is behind all this makeup and that is the most impressive. Ten out of ten for Pennywise!

When the film finished, we had a huge discussion about this and 1990 miniseries. It was a long one so maybe I’ll finally do the adaptation, remake and source material idea that I never followed through with (yet). One of the main talks was about how the kids were played. Both has a commendable cast and very convincing portrayals of their respective roles. In short, my husband enjoyed the 1990 version of the kids and I thought these kids did a great job. In fact, The Losers had a lot more individuality in this one. You can really tell them apart as they accentuated how these characters are supposed to be. Perhaps having just seen Stranger Things helped and didn’t for Finn Wolfhard as it got confusing with the bike scene however he did a great job at being Richie Tozier especially with his speedtalking and the accentuating his fears. The Eddie character stood out especially with all his concerns and fears which had some comic relief in various parts. In general, there was a decent balance of action, thrills and a little humor. However, whenever Pennywise showed up in whatever form was always creepy and tense. The star of the Losers is Sophia Lillis playing Beverly Marsh. She was so convincing and fantastic. It was a lot of fun to watch her.

IT 2017 has some parts that stayed more true to the source material (and I’ve read the majority of what happens here) and does the parts the miniseries couldn’t. At the same time, they did make some changes that still made it effective. Changing up what the original or source material had never bothers me as long as it adds to it and still makes sense. In here, it does make sense. IT is made up by a lot of moments however, there is still a strong feeling of the bond they have created in The Losers. There are some nice effects and the atmosphere works really well. Pennywise is creepy and fantastic. Its a mostly tense movie. If you have avoided the trailers up till now, continue to do so, so that this movie becomes much more effective with each of the build up to the tense moments feeling fresh. Other than that, sit back and be thrilled by IT. It may have gotten a little overhyped by its PR and the trailers revealed too much but the film itself hit all the right notes for me. There were some parts that slowed down a little but it picked right up in the next scene so it never quite feels like it lingers.

Overall, IT packs the perfect horror thriller experience. Yet again, Stephen King has created some great characters and in this, we get a much more deeper look at the hints of how Pennywise came to be. We get to see his lair, which is captivatingly much different in a good way. The Losers are great because they feel like they are their own individuals and bring a certain something of their own skills to the table. My favorite is Sophia Lillis who plays Beverly. Now, I’m just sitting around wondering who will be cast for Part 2 and their adult roles. Its one I’m looking forward to a lot!

Have you seen the remake of IT?

Horror Marathon: IT (Miniseries 1990)

It’s time for another Stephen King adaptation! We’re finally looking at the 1990 miniseries IT which I’ve never seen before today. Perhaps a good way to justify why I haven’t is that I have a GIGANTIC fear of clowns. I can remember exact moments of being a little girl and the clowns that scared the heck out of me. However, I watched this one to have a comparison with the new IT movie that had hit theatres earlier this October and that review will be up tomorrow. Unfortunately, I’m still working on the book.

Let’s check this out!

IT (1990)

Cast: Richard Thomas, Tim Curry, John Ritter, Tim Reid, Annette O’Toole, Richard Masur, Dennis Christopher, Harry Anderson, Jonathan Brandis, Brandon Crane, Adam Faraizi, Seth Green, Ben Heller, Emily Perkins

In 1960, seven pre-teen outcasts fight an evil demon who poses as a child-killing clown. Thirty years later, they reunite to stop the demon once and for all when it returns to their hometown. – IMDB

This miniseries turned out to be quite a lot less scary than I imagined it. Its probably because it didn’t age well and Tim Curry brings that very comedic clown feeling even when he gets his sharp fangs out. It originally aired in two episodes. The first part was focused on the kids and the adults heading back to Derry on a promise after their friend calls them back and the second part focuses on the adults who now need to face the reality of the reoccurence of the terror that has struck Derry again and how they plan on dealing with it. This is a long piece with the two episodes combined of over 3 hours. I guess that isn’t so bad considering we frequently get 3 hours blockbusters (close to it) so its doable to just watch the whole thing in one sitting. IT is a pretty good time to be honest. The ending is a little lackluster and I’m wondering if the actual book ends the same way.

Part 1 is definitely the highlight of the movie where we focus on the kids and shape how they’ve turned out as adults as we take a peek into their lives. All the actors are quite good and there are a few familiar faces. Since this was made for TV, there are some parts that were taken out and modified which makes sense to me and for the most part, it still flows pretty well. What makes the first part intriguing is its familiar structure to the source material which helps us not to only see how the story started for each of The Losers but also how they became friends and also to see their characters at the same time. The Losers each had skills and added individually to the story and the group. The kids here are very believable and they hold a naive sense to them despite their struggles.

Its length here has its pros and cons. For one, it allows it to stay more faithful to the source barring the moments that may be too much for general TV audience. The con however is that when the story isn’t moving, it feels like a bit of a drag. However, those are fairly rare moments. IT also uses its length to give more substance and create more of the moments. The effects are definitely dated but it is to be expected in a 1990 film however, it still is quite entertaining.

Tim Curry has taken on a lot of daring roles and some not so much. It really depends on what tone wanted to be created here. Pennywise is what will bring in those creeps as he is the villain. While Pennywise is quite entertaining and  clown-like with a slight darker edge, he or the tone of the mini series never manages to get into the horror elements well. Perhaps it is the first viewing being now that I feel this way and that if I saw it back in 1990 (unlikely since I was 4 and all I watched was Mr. Dressup and Ghibli films) that it would have scared me a lot more. The scenes had its intentions of being scary and creepy but it never sinks in.

Overall, there are some great elements here however, to say this was a scary movie experience would be inaccurate however, it is still very entertaining and has its moments. Tim Curry’s Pennywise also delivers a good performance.

Horror Marathon: Gerald’s Game (2017)

Let’s take a break from straight up horror and go for something a little more psychological. Gerald’s Game was recently released as a Netflix Originals and is directed by Mike Flanagan who I overall love quite a bit. His latest movies have been good and not great, however, I always wonder how you can rival a great debut like Absentia. However, I do think he has a great vision on building horror and always remain hopeful when it comes to creating the tense atmosphere. With some expectation and little knowledge of what Gerald’s Game is about, I went to check it out!

Gerald’s Game (2017)

Director: Mike Flanagan

Cast: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Henry Thomas, Chiara Aurelia, Carel Struycken, Kate Siegel

While trying to spice up their marriage in their remote lake house, Jessie must fight to survive when her husband dies unexpectedly, leaving her handcuffed to their bed frame.-IMDB

Stephen King’s novels have been adapted since forever. This year, it seems to be all over the place with IT recently released in theatres and then there’s been TV shows as well. Now, we land on Gerald’s Game. For those new here, I’m a reader but sadly, I’ve been incredibly behind on reading Stephen King novels. I’ve only read two novellas, A Good Marriage and 1922 and a novel, Carrie. I’m currently reading IT and that’s proving to be an endless task. However, I have watched a lot of adaptations of his. I can say that he has great art in creating incredible characters and developments and such and even the mystery, thriller, suspense, horror atmosphere balance. However, be it The Mist or IT, I can’t quite buy into their endings. Suffice to say that I didn’t know anything about Gerald’s Game before jumping into this one. When the movie started and even into the 2nd part of it, I was a fan. It was captivating and thrilling to watching our main character try to figure out a way to survive and have her inner monologue and even hallucinating a second version of herself (like her conscience or something) and her dead husband. However, the story does start to become slightly flat as we near the ending.

Gerald’s Game is a great psychological thriller. There are some gruesome imagery here but overall, its a gripping experience as this wife, Jessie struggles to get herself out of these chains before she dehydrates and dies as no one is expected to be in the neighborhood for the next few days. In many ways, it is very much a thriller with perhaps some horror elements which I found were possibly the weaker parts of the film. The tension built in the conversations and the ideas she got to sustain herself was incredibly engaging to watch. Mike Flanagan is great at creating atmosphere in his films and he yet again achieves it here. The movie is almost completely lead by Carla Gugino and while I can’t quite pinpoint where I’ve seen her act before (although I’m aware of who she is), she does an outstanding job. She takes on the role of Jessie is such a mesmerizing way that its hard to not want her to escape and be scared or nervous together with her as she tries to do one thing or the next. However predictable some of the outcomes are, her role keeps us intrigued to keep watching. Opposite her is Bruce Greenwood who plays her husband. He isn’t physically alive for very long however, the little hints we get dive into further conversations that she envisions as his ghost somewhat hangs around with her. In some ways, her ghost and his ghost play this angel and demon role and its quite entertaining to watch also.

While I can appreciate the fact that the story takes on a tangent of Jessie’s past with her father and it somewhat justifies why she chose her current husband, it drives her to the past where she remembers her time with her father and the things he did. I’ll probably be mentioning something a little more fleshed out on portraying fathers in Stephen King’s stories when I get to the IT reviews. Here Jessie’s father is played by Henry Thomas. Its odd how her family was because it seems that the mother suspects something and yet not really. However the jest of it is the trauma that she’s somehow pushed away about her father. That was a pretty disturbing scene. Somehow, this is where the story seems to derail a little. The best parts of Gerald’s Game is when she has those conversations and in the single setting and not when she hallucinates or sees some weird things or goes into her memories. Something about it seems to be executed not quite as effectively, losing the great tension it had built from the beginning.

Overall, Gerald’s Game is a pretty decent movie. I’m talking about this completely as the movie itself and not as an adaptation since I’ve never read the book. If you have read the book and have seen this, does the movie do the book justice? Carla Gugino alone is worth the watch here. She truly commands this role perfectly. Its an engaging and intriguing watch however, it does lose its footing in the last third or maybe even at somewhere near the halfway point. And then the ending, well… I’m not exactly a fan. But then, I’ve had issues with Stephen King endings before. However, Stephen King builds great, deep and twisted characters that not a lot of other authors have ever been able to do and Gerald’s Game shows that off a whole lot.

A Good Marriage & 1922 by Stephen King

The original plan for Stephen King readings was to read his books or short stories in chronological order of release. Seeing as I read Carrie first. I even have Salem’s Lot sitting on my shelf. However, that other day that I forgot my Kindle at home and remembered that I picked up this one on sale during the holidays drove me to read it. For those who didn’t read my review, you can find it here.

This book includes two novellas. It starts with A Good Marriage and follows up with 1922. Let’s check it out!

A Good Marriage

A Good Marriage is an absolute page turner. The writing and suspense and thrills carries and builds at a great pace. We pretty much follow the voice of a wife that finds out a horrible secret of her husband. She has to choose to survive and make choices that can get her through it. The agony and conflict she feels along with the eventual disgust and all those feelings are captivated so well to make us feel what she is feeling. Her husband although is the source of the issue here also has chilling moments where we truly can feel why. Spontaneous coincidences are the unexpected factors in life and sometimes it leads to the events in A Good Marriage.

This novella excels in being able to communicate the inner feelings of our characters. For the first bit of the novella, we are only reading Darcy and the feelings she gets as she discovers that there’s something her husband is hiding. However, curiosity in the end does kill the cat. We learn a little about the marriage that how Darcy and Bob get together and their 25 years of marriage. We are acquainted with these characters quickly. The reveal of the secret is slower as well as we are deceived into a little secret that when Darcy chooses to let go momentarily results in consequent actions dealing with something much more unforgivable.

Its a little twisted and puts morals on the table as to how far you’d go to protect yourself. When does doing what everyone perceives as a bad thing become a good thing for the right reasons? So many layers and such brilliant character development, A Good Marriage is a great read.

1922

Very opposite of A Good Marriage, it is hard to pinpoint what makes 1922 feel much lesser in the Stephen King collection. I guess I can’t quite say that seeing as this is just the third work that I’ve ever read. However, it was a somewhat painful experience that seemed to only come to fruition at its finale. There is a lot of detail and skill in putting together this character Wilfred as we see his slow descent into madness and obsession probably driven by the metaphorical skeletons on his closet.

1922 is shown as a letter of confession, many years after he’s actually gotten away. Wilfred recounts the story in detail from his sentiments to telling about what happens to lead up to his decision to kill his wife. The characters here are not likeable. Wilfred is a little off-putting. Henry has a rather odd turnout and his wife particularly doesn’t exactly encourage or make us feel like she deserved a lot better although for her husband to kill her is also an extreme. However, the star here is Wilfred and in the incredible detail of what happened in 1922, the entire year of 1922 literally, it gets a little long and slow and unrewarding in many ways. The ending does pull everything together if the readers haven’t gathered already that Wilfred is greatly affected by murdering his wife and the consequent events. His obsession over believing that she was still alive after she was absolutely dead physically had a cloud over him (which is pretty understandable). In many ways, we can question whether Wilfred was as bad as he seems, perhaps the events of 1922 and the fact that he realized the obvious that if he didn’t do anything, things might not have been so extreme caused him incredible regret also. There are a ton of reasons and what-ifs.

While descriptively and character building wise, there is a haunting and disturbing feeling every once in a while, the story is very slow and feels not too engaging. However, if you do stick through it, the ending does have a resolution, that was surprisingly worth it (at least to me).

A Good Marriage and 1922 both are novellas focused on a psychological change in its main character and honestly focuses on the one voice and a particular situation.
A Good Marriage was definitely the superior one. Have you read either of these before? Thoughts?

What’s Up…Wednesday

I’m sure someone has thought about this title before for a Wednesday segment. However, its not going to be a fixed segment unless you all love it! I’m just really exhausted from work and can’t seem to find the energy to wrap up a TV Binge post that I’m working on so wanted to do something quick and fun. There will be a reblog later today for the Ultimate 90’s blogathon’s next review by a lovely lady blogger. You can head over to Drew’s Movie Reviews to read it sooner.

What’s up with everyone? What have you been watching, reading, binging, loving, listening and playing?

Watching & Binging

Cardinal (TV Series)

Chef’s Table (Season 3)

Riverdale

I’m not exactly binging any of these mostly because Riverdale and Cardinal are both going on right now and only updated weekly. Cardinal is a six part mini series (or eight, I can’t remember) so its about to end soon and we’re one part behind. Like it a lot! Riverdale was something I didn’t know was going on. I had thought it was a Netflix Originals which it isn’t so I need to wait for it to be updated weekly and I know myself that eventually I’ll fall behind, no matter how much I like it. Riverdale’s first 1.5 episode was really not doing it for me but in the second half of the second episode, I do say that I like it a lot more now. The twist on these Archie comics characters is very awesome. And well, I love Chef’s Table so I didn’t want to wait to watch the new season.

Watching/Binging Next: Ultimate Beastmaster

Did you see this trailer? Its starting this Friday and I’m excited!

Reading

Not my original intention to read two books at the same time but I just happened to remember that I had bought A Good Marriage on a good deal and it was on my phone the day I forgot my Kindle so started it. So far, I’m enjoying it. It also breaks the order of how I originally wanted to experience Stephen King’s novels. We’ll get back on track and pretend we didn’t skip ahead. What Maisie Knew feels heavy and no, I haven’t watched the movie but will.

Reading next:
The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass

I’ve started this one over two years ago. Its time to finish it and put it away.

Playing

Mobile game

Early Access Steam

Playstation 4

In between games right now after a blitz run of Game Warp’s February featured game so just playing some puzzle games. I do have some unfinished games or game in progress but here’s what I’m playing in the background. The Early Access Steam one is a recent start this weekend and only a little over a week old in Early Access.

Playing next: Child of Light/Three-Fourth’s Home/World of Goo, etc
& March’s featured game for Game Warp: Batman – The Telltale Series

And finally, listening or more somehow stuck in my head…

That’s it for what I’ve been doing. Behind the scenes things like this seem a little silly to do to me. However, they are fun!
If you do like it, maybe I’ll make it into a segment.

Hope you enjoyed it!
What are you doing behind the scenes? TV, Music, Books, Movie franchises, Video games?

Book Review: Carrie by Stephen King

**This review is thanks to Stephen King blogathon over at Movie Reviews 101 and Movie Rob for October where I did a comparison of this book and the 1976 adaptation and 2013 remake**

My first Stephen King novel ever! How about that? You can take those judgy eyes off of me now. I know I know, its overdue and silly.  Keep in mind that I rarely read horror so I’m working on it, okay? Much to my luck, it also happens to be his first published novel.  How about that for coincidence? It does make me wonder whether I should do a challenge of reading through Stephen King’s novels and see how he’s has changed. It sure sounds like an extremely long-term project or maybe it’ll be a annual feature project just for Halloween month. What do you think about that?

Without further ado, let’s check it out!

Carrie
by: Stephen King

Carrie knew she should not use the terrifying power she possessed… But one night at her senior prom, Carrie was scorned and humiliated just one time too many, and in a fit of uncontrollable fury she turned her clandestine game into a weapon of horror and destruction… – Goodreads

I’m definitely beating myself up for being late to the Stephen King party.  Carrie is a great book and pulled me right in.  I have a general idea of what Carrie is capable of doing even though I haven’t watched any of the movies before but its popular enough that I’ve heard bits and pieces here and there. There’s a few aspects that I truly love of this first entry into Stephen King’s career in the horror novel business.

First of all, the setup of the book is fantastic.  I love that he chose to do this with survivors and their interviews, interrogations, excerpts of “books” that were published based on the incident and also the reports from the day on what happened.  Intertwined in all that, we had the account of the true details flowing flawlessly from Carrie, her mom Margaret, Billy Nolan and Chris Hargensen and Sue Snell as the events that built and then fell apart into the disaster it became.

Second, Carrie may seem like the only person here that is amplified as crazy because she is kind of out of control and then she has this unknown thing called TK (aka Telekinesis/Telekinetic powers).  Except Carrie’s character is built from everything around her.  She literally has a breakdown and she wants revenge for everything that has happened.  But, can you blame her? Carrie’s been humiliated in the most excruciating way and she’s never been able to show her emotions because her mother is a little addicted to religion and makes her do all sorts of stuff and follow all kinds of rules to make sure she doesn’t sin.  Imagine living under those circumstances.  Anger and sorrow (if not other emotions) just buried inside and then the trigger hits and everything just becomes hell. And that is what happens. Carrie does get really far gone and out there but somehow, I didn’t know how to blame her. I’m not saying what she did is right because that just hits all sorts of ethical debates but I’m complimenting on how skillful Stephen King created the character of Carrie.

Except on that same line of thought, Carrie isn’t really the only person that is crazy.  Her mom has her issues, showing that having faith is good but sometimes when its overboard it becomes slightly illogical to say the least. Then there’s Billy Nolan who has some problems as well.  We never know quite why he is like that.  Everyone has their underlying motives and maybe its a stab at just how imperfect society is.  Just sometimes we just all hide or show what we think is suitable.  And its making us think about how much and how far you can push someone before they break. I guess the message behind this (if there really is one or maybe I’m overthinking it) is the third point I’m trying to make about what I liked.

Carrie is a great start to Stephen King’s career.  While this is supposed to be horror, its made me feel bad for Carrie more than I felt like it was a horror.  Sure, telekinetic powers, bullying and just people are scary and the impact of the surrounding forces in what becomes us is scary.  Even having someone’s lash out literally destroy an entire town is also very traumatizing.  But what happened to Carrie makes me sad more than I was scared.  I was really scared about what she would end up doing as her options for her future became less and less.  In the end, I might question whether this is a horror novel.  But I really liked it a lot. It was a pageturner with a great story setup and builds the characters really well especially Carrie.  Its definitely worth a read.

I’m looking forward to checking out more Stephen King novels in the future.

Did you read Carrie? What are your favorite Stephen King novels? Any recommendations?

Halloween Kingathon – Carrie Comparison From Tranquil Dreams

A little something different today! Its my contribution to the Stephen King blogathon co-hosted by Movie Reviews 101 and Movie Rob. This time, I decided to do a little video comparing the book Carrie to the 1976 adaptation and the 2013 remake of the movies with the same name.
Hop on over and check out their sites. The blogathon just started and its running during October. I’m sure lots of great reviews are going to go up all about Stephen King and his work! 🙂
Look out for a second entry from me a little later on as well!

Movie Reviews 101

Finishing off our look at Carrie we have Kim from Tranquil Dreams looking at how the 1976 and 2013 film compare to the book.

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Halloween Marathon Finale: The Shining (1980)

A little delayed with the Halloween marathon but its FINALLY here. 🙂

The final movie in my Halloween Marathon was The Shining and one that my boyfriend has been wanting for us to sit down and check since I announced the Halloween marathon.  Seeing as this is a classic, I decided to put it as the finale to give it a special spotlight 🙂 Unfortunate was that I needed to finish this over Saturday and Sunday because I was so exhausted from my huge deadline that I couldn’t keep my eyes open to finish the movie.

Lets check this out!

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Cast: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers, Barry Nelson

Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) is hired to look after the deserted and secluded yet prestigious Overlook Hotel during the closed season. A perfect opportunity for him where he can focus on his writing while having his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and son, Danny (Danny Lloyd) with him.  Before he takes on the job, the hotel manager informs him of peculiar instance of a previous caretaker that murdered his family there.  When a snow storm brews outside, having them on lockdown, Jack grows restless and more and more unstable in his personality.

Everyone knows the story, right? Well, I actually didn’t until I saw the movie.  The only thing I knew was that “Here’s Johnny” line that goes with the poster image on the side.  As I was watching this, I was wondering what makes The Shining scary and at the same time, hoping that I’ll like it because no disrespect to Stanley Kubrick as a director, but I’ve had a hard time enjoying his movies.  Its not really my style, I guess.  I’ve only seen a fraction of his movies so I do hope to find one that’ll pull me right in.

The Shining is a slow, gradually building story.  There’s a lot to love about it.  The premise of it all, especially set in an incredibly huge closed space (mostly) is pretty genius.  Is it evil lurking around? Is it what people thought was cabin fever? What is The Shining exactly?  Because thats something that Danny apparently has, from what the cook says.  There are questions that build up as bizarre things happen to everyone.  Jack Torrence mostly experiences mood changes until when he starts getting a lot of alone time and for Danny, he sees more physically than everyone else.  I’m still a little confused with what actually went on but there is one particular highlight of The Shining.

Jack Nicholson’s take of Jack Torrance

So, I know nothing about the source material of The Shining but I was reading that it was supposed to be descent into madness for Jack Torrance.  I never have movies being carbon copies or not with movies. I think that for movies to work, they sometimes need to approach things differently than the book because of the description and whatnot.  Jack Torrance already seemed like a questionably sane man when the movie started.  He had creepy and awkward reactions and expressions and as the movie progressed, his character got more chilling in a very entertaining way.  Does that make me crazy that I wasn’t scared by the movie? I do think it was really entertaining to watch because if anything, the final act was really where it was completely crazy and that was when it shot from good build up to great development.  (Sorry Tyson, 10/10 maybe not for me but I’d give this one 9/10 if I had to rate it).

Another really nice thing about the movie was the camera angles.

Like not just the straight lines and the elongated hallways and all that but just how its structured: the colors and contrast and the patterns.  There’s so much detail to every scene and thats pretty impressive.  It makes it feel a bit like the movie is set in an illusion.  There’s something unreal about the whole Overlook Hotel scene.  And then don’t even get me started how I really liked the whole labyrinth set-up.

Add on the violin music (which I think bothered my boyfriend a little) to add on the intensity and mood of the scene. By the way, violin music eternally remind me of that horror movie directed by James Wan. I think its Insidious.  I have horrible memory with horror movies just because sometimes, I hide behind my blanket to watch some of them and can’t remember exact scenes.  But this one, didn’t bother me so much and was pretty awesome.

The entertaining part was watching Shelley Duvall act as Wendy.  She was really fun to watch because she panicks A LOT.  Thats part of the movie and the plot and it matches to the context.  Everyone in The Shining borders on extreme in everything.  She’s a pretty awkward character as well.  Who isn’t in this Torrance family anyways? They all have something to learn about them.  What I like about her character is that there is a big development because she’s literally oblivious to everything around her because whatever’s happening, her son can see it so he’s scared and her husband is just being affected and going nuts, she just gets thrown into this craziness and then freaks out because it makes sense to. That scene with the bat: stellar performance and my favorite scene in the whole thing.

The Shining had 3 stars and since I’ve already mentioned the Torrance parents, I have to talk a little about Danny, played by Danny Lloyd. I have my issues with child actors but Danny is different.  Somehow he is the key in all this because he has The Shining.  I’m still trying to figure out what that is exactly. Is it communicating with others and foreseeing thing? I have to rewatch it or read the book, either/or. The kid has the best scared and shocked faces ever.  He has some pretty nicely shot scenes too.  Like the whole rolling down the hallways in high speed.  Love it! That goes back to my camera angles compliment.  Plus, he’s smart, like in that last scene, just in case you haven’t seen it (and I’m not judging because I only saw this the first time), I’m going to keep it at just that.

I expected a lot from The Shining.  There’s a lot of great aspects about it: camera, characters, story (although confused a little with the ending).  I’m looking at this solely as a movie and nothing related to source material because I haven’t check it out.  I’m not even familiar with any of Stephen King’s writing except for some of them adapted on the big screen or TV.  It was entertaining, Jack Nicholson gave a chilling performance and the setting was great.  Nothing build atmosphere like seclusion and shifting human behavior (aka crazy) and evilness all around.  I don’t think its perfect but then its pretty close to it 🙂 I still have a few issues to work out and it’ll probably require a second viewing but I’ll gladly do it.

Thoughts on The Shining? Have you read the source material? Enlighten me on how it differs!

Breaking Emotions Blogathon: Tears & Surprise

Its the second week at Mettel Ray’s Breaking Emotions blogathon. Click on the banner above to check it out! Last week, it was Fear & Awkward.  I chose to do one emotion and showcased 5 awkward scenes.  If you’d like to check out that post, its right HERE! This week, our mission is to break Tears (aka sadness) and Surprise. For all the instructions and other entries, head over HERE.  Join in if you have some scenes to share, it’ll be lots of fun!

Initially, I had thought about doing only one emotion because I’m a sap and I cry at everything, but then I thought about it a bit deeper and dug deep in my mind to find scenes where I cry repeatedly, like the scene shows up and the waterworks start immediately.  These days, nothing really gets me as much as it used to (but thats also because I’m avoiding dramas in general).  However, the ones that made me shed tears or downright bawl were only a select few.

1) Les Miserables ending scene

A lot of people would say that Fantine’s solo I Dreamed a Dream would be the most emotional.  I’m not saying it isn’t.  I bawled for a good part of Les Miserables.  However, the part that touched me the most of was the ending scene.  Jean Valjean’s part where he has to reveal himself. To me, Jean Valjean’s story is a sad one and the ending he met may be a form of release for him but at the same time, his character is one that tugs at my heartstrings and makes me cry every single time.

2) 2 Young – Parent’s heart felt words

2 Young is a 2005 Hong Kong movie that I like a lot.  I reviewed it a month or two ago (you can find it HERE). As much as this movie is about a sweet young love and their struggles, its also brings in the parents and how they are coping with it.  Thats what makes this drama so good.  This scene is touching because one, we have an amazing actor in Eric Tsang being the father.  He expresses his sadness because of his failure to be a good father and a good husband because he couldn’t stop his son from going down his own path and in turn, not being able to make better choices for his life.  The scene by itself probably doesn’t mean much but to fully grasp it, you have to really watch the whole thing, which I urge you to do.

3) Quill: The Life of a Guide Dog -> Saying Goodbye

I watched Quill almost 10 years ago.  Quill is a Japanese story about the life of a guide dog called Quill: the bonds he builds in his training, his career and then till the very end.  I’m an animal lover so when you give me a story about the life of a dog and as a pet owner, I understand the pain of parting of them more than anything.  Hell, I’m still grieving over my last dog and its been recently 2 years.  This scene up there makes me burst into tears in buckets.  I was rewatching a part of the movie last night on YouTube and I was getting all teary even when seeing it in snippets.

Thats it for now, I had a few choices to make but one thing this did do was remind me of a lot of movies that I haven’t seen in a long time.  Another one that is kind of honorable mention was My Sister’s Keeper.  That movie was not a great adaptation of the novel but there was a few parts that was really tear-jerking,  at least for me.  Lets wrap this one up and move on to the next emotion!

Surprise is one that I don’t really want to go too much in depth about and struggled with whether I should do it.  Why? Because if it was a plot twist, I wouldn’t want to reveal it to all of you, thats in spoiler territory.  So instead of videos, I’ll just brush the surface on movies that surprised me the most when I first saw it. Not to mention there is only a very little amount of movies that I haven’t predicted the twist in advance to some degree.  An overactive and analytical mind will do that to you.  Lets give it a shot though.  Lets try and break SURPRISE!

1) The Mist – ending scene

I’ve heard lots of people praise The Mist and its “amazing” ending.  Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of the movie because of the ending but it is also one that surprised me the most.  I never saw that coming at all! This may be an adaptation from a Stephen King novel (it is, right?) but I haven’t read any of them. Shocking and surprising, I know, I need to get to it.  Still, that ending knocked me out and I was like WTF?!?!?!?

2) Re-cycle – plot twist

Re-cycle is an Asian horror flick by the Pang brothers that I adore.  I’m a huge fan of their movies especially after my favorite horror flick, The Eye.  As much as this movie is going to give you a ripoff of Silent Hill at the beginning sort of vibe, the movie turns out to have this amazing twist.  I really don’t want to reveal it.  All I have to say is that the world’s meaning turns into something else and the scene where it all explains it really gives it a huge boost.  I couldn’t find even an obscure scene of the surprise moment I’d say this scene kind of links to it a bit. The clever build-up for the big reveal really makes this one of the most surprising moments (for me) till today. Obviously, I still have a lot of catching up to do, especially in terms of classics but this one definitely qualifies.

3) The Cabin in the Woods

I went into The Cabin in the Woods knowing absolutely nothing so the ending is a shocking one that kind of gives the movie a purpose.  I don’t even know what I’m being all secretive, I’m sure most of you (if not all) have seen this movie.  Granted, I thought it was an absurd twist in a certain way but does give it this lasting memory in my mind.  My reaction to the ending, “Excuse me? Are you for reals?!?!?!?!?” Thats better than my boyfriend’s standing up and walking away calling it stupid.  I have to revisit this movie since I’ve gained this immense praise for Joss Whedon but still, it was quite the creative thought.  I gotta give the movie that much.  It definitely surprised the hell out of me.  

Its funny how my list is all horror movies.  LOL! What can I say? I’d put thrillers but I can see people pounding me for giving away those big twists even more.  Plus, a lot of thrillers, I really do have it figured out before the big reveal, I blame it on overuse of foreshadowing (or just bad promo work).  Either way, I’ve learnt better. The ones above, I watched them without knowing anything in advance.  Just to make it clear, since we’re looking at movie scenes, we’re talking about ending scenes for The Mist and

Here we go! Another week of Breaking Emotions blogathon! Remember to click on the banner or the link to check out other entries or get information to join in. 🙂