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  

Wrong Turn (2021)

🎃 Horrorthon 2023 #35

So I know I said I wasn't gonna watch any more Wrong Turn franchise films, and I thought I wasn't: this one came up when I searched my library to see if they had Wrong Turn 2003 on DVD. I thought this was a new movie that just happened to also be called "Wrong Turn" (it happens), but nope, it's a remake, I knew as soon as it said "Constantin Films" in the opening credits, lol, they even wink-and-nod to the franchise towards the end.

HOW👏EV👏ER👏 -- crap franchise or not -- this turned out to be really good! They replaced the inbred hillpeople with some folk-horror cultist types, and took out most of the cannibalism (but not ALL of it). There's A LOT that happens in this movie, so much so that by the end you kinda forget how it started. It's better and more interesting than the original, by far.

Watched on DVD (library) 👁️ Trailer on YouTube  

House of Wax (1953)

🎃 Horrorthon 2023 #8 🔥 70th Anniversary

This was one of the first films released in COLOR 3D, and boy did they market it that way 😂 I couldn't even find a trailer that actually previewed the movie, just ones with SHOUTING about the 3D!

There was definitely the hokey "this movie's in 3D" camera shots that stick out like a sore thumb and make you roll your eyes when you're watching it "flat" 70 years later, but otherwise this was a good Vincent Price murder-mystery horror, with a creepy setting and some pretty damn impressive wax figures throughout.

I would have sworn I watched this before, but none of it seemed familiar. I think I was misrememebering it as some anthology that was set in a house of wax from the 60's or 70's.

Watched on YouTube Free 👁️ Trailer? on YouTube  

My Bloody Valentine (2009)

  Pretty lame.

Watched on Amazon Prime 👁️ Trailer on YouTube  

Cape Fear (1991)

Hadn't seen this movie in a loooooooooong time, like 20 years -- WOW, is this hard to watch! Straight-up gut-churning psychotic behavior, and nerve-wracking impotence of recourse. Such powerful performances all around. Now I need to dig up a copy of the original to watch.

Watched on DVD (library) 👁️ Trailer on YouTube  

Invaders from Mars (1986)

  What a wild, nonsensical ride. 🤣

Watched on Tubi 👁️ Trailer on YouTube  

King Kong (1976)

  Nothing like a good ol' monster movie, and I hadn't seen this one yet!

Watched on Amazon Prime 👁️ Trailer on YouTube  

Flatliners (2017)

Watched on DVD (library) 👁️ Trailer on YouTube  

The Blob (1988)

Went on a monster movie bender: Tremors, Jaws, Rodan... then realized I've never seen The Blob remake, even though I really like the Steve McQueen original (enough to own a DVD copy).

So totally worth watching! Fantastic remake! Really expanded the horror of the organism, and great practical effects.

Watched on DVD (library) 👁️ Trailer on YouTube  

Pulse (2006)

Why was I avoiding this?! I could've watched this so long ago! Fantastic concept (remake of 2001 Japanese film Kairo) and top-notch execution.

Watched on Tubi 👁️ Trailer on YouTube  

Night of the Demons (2010)

  I couldn't even finish this, it was absolute garbage.

Watched on Amazon Prime 👁️ Trailer on YouTube  

Black Christmas (2006)

Watched on Amazon (rented) 👁️ Trailer on YouTube  

Fright Night (2011)

🎃 Horrorthon 2021 #20 🔥 10th Anniversary

So thru most of this movie, my brain was mistaking the original Night of the Demons as the original Fright Night 😂 that would explain some things... even so, this was just meh. I do not like Colin Farrell, but I knew that going into it.

Watched on DVD (library) 👁️ Trailer on YouTube  

Quarantine (2008)

🎃 Horrorthon 2021 #12

This movie is UNDER👏RATED👏

It's an English remake of a Spanish-language film (REC) that was released just 1 year earlier, and so Quarantine was kind of swept aside in the "found footage" craze of turn-of-the-century horror.

In the beginning, the acting can seem a bit stiff, but these are supposed to be "real people" so it's actually part of the gambit.
About 20 minutes-in the action starts to get frenetic and never stops, escalating until there's really never NOT something intensely frightening happening.

I've seen quite a few of the found-footage genre horror flicks, and none of them quite measure up to this one in intensity --- it just has that extra something special.

Watched on DVD (owned) 👁️ Trailer on YouTube  

Child's Play (2019)

🎃 Horrorthon 2020 #16

Better than I expected 🤔

They really did a good job in this remake updating the concept of "Chuckie" for our current technological times. Plus: Mark Hamill as the voice of the new Chucky -- excellent casting!

Watched on Hulu 👁️ Trailer on YouTube  

The Crazies (2010)

🎃 Horrorthon 2020 #8 🔥10th Anniversary

Very well done, and always fun to watch this horror movie set in rural Iowa, where if they could only get to Cedar Rapids they'll be saved.😂

Watched on DVD (owned) 👁️ Trailer on YouTube  

The Grudge (2020)

🎃 Horrorthon 2020 #2 🔥 Release Year

Even more atmospheric and story-driven than the 2004 version, same amount of jump-scares. But their use of the "spectres" was not as effective as the original -- too...overt. Not quite subtle enough to be the same level of creepy.

Watched on DVD (library) 👁️ Trailer on YouTube  

The Ring (2002)

Watched on Netflix 👁️ Trailer on YouTube  

The Hitcher (2007)

🎃 Horrorthon 2019 #33

  Turned out to be more action-thriller than horror, but Sean Bean was good.

Watched on DVD (library) 👁️ Trailer on YouTube  

Rob Zombie's "Halloween" (2007)

🎃 Horrorthon 2019 #26

Watched on DVD (owned) 👁️ Trailer on YouTube