Annabelle (2014)

Watched on Hulu 👁️ Trailer on YouTube  

I Am Not a Serial Killer (2016)

I'll tell you the same thing that was told to me: Don't look up anything about this movie, don't watch the trailer, just go into it cold with no information and no expectations.

Watched on Tubi 👁️ Trailer on YouTubeNOPE  

Silent House (2011)

Thanks to Reddit & FB groups decrypting the vague recollections I posted, I was directed to this movie that I misremembered as High Tension (wow they're very different).

I'm glad I was able to watch this again, it's disturbing but very good. The directorial style is really cool, surreal, disorienting, frightening, and Elizabeth Olsen gives a fantastic performance.

Watched on MAX 👁️ Trailer on YouTube  

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

I'm now among the throngs of horror fans who were unimpressed with this remake. The recasting of Freddy didn't bother me -- it was inevitable with an aging Robert Englund -- but their casting choice was poor, IMO. Jackie Earle Haley is not physically imposing, nor does he have the commanding screen presence necessary for the role. His voice isn't quite right either, and the strange choice to voiceover all his lines made it sound like an announcer on a movie trailer, and along with this iteration of Freddy's stiff lips/facial deformities, the dub didn't always sync up or look like he was saying the words, giving the impression of a muppet talking. This Freddy's face "design" is just plain not scary enough, not sinister enough, not enough inherent malice, especially compared to the original Freddy.

As far as actual content, this film just had a bunch of "homages" to the original series (Freddy stretching through the wall; Freddy's claw hand in the bathtub), along with other horror movie cliches (boy startles girl by climbing in her bedroom window; someone hiding in closet from killer), and was lacking the overall imagination of the original(s), which had the absolute wackadoo dream scenarios and Freddy's sardonic wisecracks. This remake also leaned too hard into the pedophile/molestation aspect of the story and it got cringey.

The only cool part was the hallway that turned into a blood pool, swallowed Rooney Mara's character Nancy, and spit her out of the ceiling in another room in an explosion of blood.

Watched on MAX 👁️ Trailer on YouTube  

Mara (2018)

Watched on Amazon Prime 👁️ Trailer on YouTube