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Reviews
Unfriended: Dark Web (2018)
Genuinely scary
This movie was amazing. I find hacking and dark web things genuinely terrifying and this film pulled it off very well. A lot of the scary/disturbing things that happened in it are things that actually happen in the real world and that makes it all the more scary.
And that's all I wanted to say but for some reason this thing wants me to write a certain number of characters (I forgot the exact number since it's counting down) so I'm just going to complain about that until I've met the quota. I don't understand why I can't sum up a review in just a couple of sentences. I hope everyone has a good day.
The Neighbor (2017)
Dull
This movie COULD have been decent because the concept is interesting. It just doesn't deliver for several reasons.
1. The camerawork. There are so many times where the camera just focuses on his expression or on some boring activity he's doing for an excruciating amount of time. I can understand a couple of times so that we get a sense of how mundane his life is, and how awkward his personality is. But they drill that point in until your head will explode. We did not need to see him walk to a door for 30 seconds, or (my personal favorite) watch his expression while in the car as a police siren goes by. At first I thought he was getting pulled over but nope it had literally nothing to do with anything at all. So whyyy?
2. The movie felt empty, like there should have been more things that happened. It's like they needed to add SOMETHING but ended up just creating the long awkward scenes I mentioned in 1 to fill time, instead of filming more scenes where something interesting actually happens.
3. I didn't care about any of the characters. Other than his obvious awkwardness, I couldn't get a sense of anyone's personality. This could have been helped if they had done a better job on the issue I mentioned in 2, because more watchable scenes would help understand/relate to characters.
4. The ending was just odd. I won't spoil it, but it just felt like it wasn't an ending.
I Spit on Your Grave (2010)
Bad start, good finish
It loses points for the cliche use of "let me call you back" so the character can go check out that suspicious noise. Followed immediately by a scene where the character explores an abandoned house because it also made a suspicious noise. Oh and how about walking outside at night and saying "hello?" into the dark because you heard a noise?? I wish creators of horror movies would just stop acting like people have to be stupid in order to make a movie scary.
Moving on from that, I wish they had managed to tell the beginning of the story (the events leading up to the attack) in a more natural and intriguing way, but instead it just feels so drawn out. The attack scene doesn't even happen until the movie is halfway over, compared to the original where the attack is just 20 minutes in. We don't need THIS much backstory to a traumatic event that we already know is going to happen (it's literally in the movie description). Thoughout the movie, both before and after the attack, there were way too many incidents of "person hears noise when it's eerily quiet." There should be a limit to the number of times you can use that in one film.
The parts I was most looking forward to (when she gets her revenge) isn't until the last 30 minutes of a nearly 2 hour long movie. However, the gore and drama of it really delivered. Do not watch if you can't handle disturbing scenes. The revenge scenes in this remake were definitely better than the original. I just wish the rest of the film was as good as the ending.
Fresh (2022)
Good
The first big chunk of the movie feels so much like a romantic comedy that you almost forget it's a horror film. But I honestly didn't mind, because it allows us to see Steve how Noa sees him: charistmatic, fun, handsome. And their relationship is so cute you kind of hope it doesn't take the terrible turn you know it's going to take.
The acting is fantastic. I absolutely love Sebatian Stan in this movie. He plays the part of "damn near perfect guy with just one tiiiny problem" so well.
The writing, camerawork, and directing were all pretty good too.
I have two main issues with the film.
1. Why on earth would you go to some "surprise" location with someone you just met that hasn't met any of your friends? Maybe she had just been so lonely and was excited to finally find someone? I guess people do dumb things when they're in love.
2. The ending was a little bit of a let down simply because it didn't feel like everything was resolved. They did escape but they're still stuck in the middle of nowhere and that other guy is supposed to be "cleaning up." So it doesn't exactly feel like they're safe. I also want to know more about the wife. Was she a captive that he fell in love with? Or did she know about his habits the whole time? If so, what happened with her leg? There are hints about these things but I want actual answers. And finally, I want to know if the bartender friend at least called the cops once he drove away.
Other than this I thought the ending was pretty good. It didn't feel like the creators tried so hard to fit a specific narrative that they caused it to become illogical or fall extremely flat, like many films do. The characters just did what they could in the situation they were in.
No Exit (2022)
Do not recommend
The plot had potential but I was disappointed because the movie just really failed to capture and keep my attention. I ended up skimming over a lot of pointless drawn out scenes. None of them felt suspenseful like they should have.
Several reviews said the acting was great but I don't see it. It's mediocre at best. I didn't feel anything for any of the characters, even the lead.
The script and "plot twists" were fairly predictable. The action parts and the ending fell flat because I didn't care about any of the characters except for the little girl. I'm giving it a 3 because the idea behind it was good and it's definitely not the worst thing I've seen. But I wouldn't recommend this or bother to watch it again.
Into the Dark: Flesh & Blood (2018)
Pretty good
It's a decent film. I felt engaged the whole time. I was actually unsure for most of it whether the dad was really responsible for the crimes, or if the daughter was just suffering from delusions due to her medication or maybe even responsible for them herself, because there have been many films with similar twists.
I did love the final scene when she kind of realized she was outside and looked so startled, exhausted, and happy at the same time. I especially liked it because I didn't even register at first that her being outside was strange, because with all the action going on it just felt like a normal desperate escape. So it almost felt like I went through the emotions with her: suspense, relief and exhaustion, and then after the adrenaline starts to go down realizing that another big thing had happened.
As with most movies, there were moments of "don't do that, that's stupid" but that's probably the worse part, so overall it's a pretty good film.
Into the Dark: The Body (2018)
Better than expected
It definitely feels more comedy than horror but I'm not mad about that. It's a pretty easy watch. I didn't expect much in the beginning and was really confused on why a professional hitman would be so careless as to openly drag a body around. But later on it's revealed that he does this pretty much every Halloween and it's always worked.
Some decisions didn't make sense or were cliche, but they didn't bother me much, probably because most show/movies have at least some stuff that doesn't make sense. For example, the cliche of leaving someone nearly dead and then later it turns out they didn't die. It simply doesn't make sense for a hitman that's trying to tie up loose ends.
When thinking of it as a comedy, most of the acting was pretty decent. The actor playing the hitman was particularly good as more of the character was revealed. I loved it when he finally cracked a smile and laughed.
I would definitely recommend this one, but not if you're looking for something actually scary or thrilling.
Into the Dark: New Year, New You (2018)
Good concept, not executed very well
The concept is interesting and it starts off okay. My biggest issue in the begining was the camerawork. It pans over or zooms in and lingers on something for a while, as if trying to be ominous but it feels awkward more than eerie. Some of the acting (not all) seemed a bit off but I thought it was just because the characters were supposed to be awkward or we just weren't supposed to know their motives or exact emotions quite yet. I eventually realized that a lot of the acting just wasn't where it needed to be to really sell the character. Despite this, I was still interested in the story overall.
I started to lose interest later on when some of the decisions didn't make any sense, and pretty much completely lost interest when the "action" parts and dialogue with them seemed so incredibly strange and clunky that my brain couldn't even force itself to be invested in it. The final scene was just... odd. And then it zooms on on pool water without showing anything else like it's trying again to be creepy and just failing at it. Also, I expected that at the end we would get answers to some things that had been hinted at or discussed, but we don't, and it's very disappointing.
Overall, good concept, just needed to be thought out a little better.