Updating frequently

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Congrats

Today, my good friend Sty Hand got married!
Unfortunately, my lack of money prevented me from attending.
But, if I close my eyes, I can imagine I am there, crying over such an emotional and beautiful event.

Here's something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.

Vintage brooch bridal bouquet by Studio del Fiore

Congrats and love to you!
I wish you two a happy and successful live together!

Three or Ten?

I've got to say: the first part of the movie was more comical than scary.
The opening credits had me questioning if I was watching the same movie I had selected.
But perhaps, that was the point. And by point, I mean theme.

The Eye 3 follows four young friends visiting their other friend's country, bringing the count to five.
Looking for something to do, Chongkwai brings out The 10 Encounters, a book that instructs on ten ways to see spirits.
The original title for The Eye 3 is The Eye 10; 10 for each encounter.

Some of the ten were pretty common, like Ouija boards, to the strange, like sitting in an intersection of sidewalks and bang chopsticks against porcelain plates to feed the spirits.
A few things you should know: make sure you don't have cheap plates and don't pee on ghosts, it's not polite.

About half way through, when things stopped being funny and started to get, kinda, serious, I started to lose interest. Although, the dance off was pretty amusing. And farting is a good tactic against ghosts.

Definitely recommend watching with friends, if just to laugh at the ridiculous reactions and situations these wacky kids get into. Probably wouldn't watch again or recommend otherwise.

Horatio?

USA Films? Oh it's gotta be good! lol

So, I was recommended Session 9 and told that it would be an interesting review.
Not necessarily because it was spooky, but because David Caruso aka Horatio Caine was a main character.

The movie opens with Horatio er... Caruso speaking off camera, which caused me to dissolve into giggles.
However, I snapped myself out of it by reminding myself that I needed to put on my serious reviewer hat on and delved into the movie... with the occasional fangirl giggle here and there.

Session 9 tells the story of an asbestos cleaning crew that wins a bid to clean out an abandoned state hospital. The building is beautiful as it is eerie. The perfect backdrop, if you will.
The perfect backdrop to allow the human psyche to reign. Each person has their own story to tell.... well, not necessarily to tell. Perhaps... show. Each have their own conflicts, trials and tribulations.
Think: reality TV in an abandoned insane asylum.

The title of the movie comes from recorded sessions one of the workers find. Taking a little break from work out of each day, he listens to the tapes, getting more and more unsettled as he goes along.
And eventually, basic evils take apart the team: greed, mullets, parenting, bad taste in music....

And those little breaks become purposeful and long.
And then there's that Horatio tone.
And then things start getting a little weird.

Asbestos is a hell of a thing.

My recommendation is to watch this movie with others for laughs. Not something I would pay for, but would certainly watch. Wasn't quite scary enough for me. But certainly had me thinking.

Friday, October 29, 2010

So... it's not true?

I've heard that it was customary, in olden days gone by, to photograph one's self with the recently departed.
And nowadays, you'll think it's just an odd photograph until realization overcomes you when you notice that there's a dead person in the photo.
The Haunting in Connecticut opens with these photos and the words, "based on the true story."

Haunting starts off with basic human tragedy: a mother driving her cancer-stricken son home from the hospital. The parents (which are an ass of a dad and a strong yet vulnerable mom) discuss moving closer to the hospital and the financial issues that go along with it.
Ten minutes in, that you already begin hearing those noises that my parents had always referred to as, 'the house is just settling.'

Well, that's not really the house settling...

And when the door that wouldn't open before, suddenly opens don't be surprised if there's spooky stuff behind it.

And suddenly, crabs!

And would you PLEASE keep your dead people to yourself!

And the theme that holds all of these together? The human tragedy that started off the movie.
Each deals with their feeling of hopelessness in their own way. And even the dad, despite being an ass, needs a hug and some comfort.... to an extent.
Human tragedy laced with creepy, spooky things. And coughing up goo.

And it's this human tragedy that kept me going, that kept me watching.
And then, I got into it.
And then, I wanted to know what was happening, what was going to happen and how it was going to end.


And all I can say is: how did they not notice the smell.

I recommend this movie for your viewing pleasure. It was certainly interesting. Not go to the theatre interesting. But still pretty interesting.

And I'll let you decide if it's a true story or not.

Did that chair just move?

So, a sore and painful body gives a day off of work and makes conditions excellent to, once again, marathon some scary movies. And because I'm sick and bonelessly sprawled out under a blanket, it makes me more tolerable to terrible movies so I'll actually finish one and have something to write about.

First movie of the day is Death of a Ghost Hunter.

Movies shot in documentary style intrigue me and (in my mind, at least) serves as a sort of countdown.
A countdown to doom or terror or cake... or what-have-you.

Our cast of characters consists of the intellectual ghost hunter, the sexy Latina writer, the cute tech guy and the creepy church girl. They are investigating the Masterson home, which housed tragedy 20 years prior.

- Carter, our intellectual ghost hunter, is our narrator and referee; she keeps everyone from completely flying off the handle and poking fun at the church girl for being.... well, creepy. She also guides us through meatier findings as she's the ghost hunter.

- Collin, our cute tech guy, outfits the house with gadgets and wisecracks for our viewing pleasure. He also works with Yvette to push along the story with general snooping, question asking and normal human interaction. Part one of comic relief and story mover.

- Yvette, our sexy Latina writer, is a reporter from a local newspaper and builds history and insight into everyone. Also, as a reporter, her job is to dig deep into the Mastersons' lives and serves to find things no one else would have found. Part two of comic relief and story mover. These two serve to pull the crew together; without them, Carter and Mary would just keep to themselves and the movie title would be changed to 'Two women keep to themselves and stare off into space.'

- Bringing up the rear: Mary, our creepy church girl, is present to keep the Masterson name clear of false reportings. Mr. Masterson was one of the founding fathers of her church and she doesn't want their name or church pulled through the mud. She also makes sure to be judgmental and preaches about the evils of birth control, coffee and minorities.

As dark, spooky nighttime is conducive to spooky nighttime happenings, the crew sleeps primarily during the day in between viewings of EVP recordings and camera shots.
And, of course, Blair Witch Project shoutouts.
And catfights!
And a stinky bag!

And then we get the full story! And there's a bit extra at the end, an epilogue if you will.

In the end, it's not really a movie I would pay money to watch or have. But it is certainly an entertaining watch.
Thanks, Netflix!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Horror with a heart

I'm apparently on a 'horror with a heart' kick as I'm reviewing another heartbreaking horror movie.
This time, it's the South Korean psycho-thriller Acacia.

Never come between a boy and his tree... errr... mom... er... whatever...

Acacia is another movie that struck me as a work of art. The colors, cinematography and thick emotions attracted me from the start.

The movie begins innocuous enough: Mi-sook and Do-il cannot have children, so they decide to adopt cute and quiet Jin-seong.
And things are going pretty well, Jin-seong meets the girl next door and befriends the tree in the backyard.
But soon, strange occurrences start popping up and you question what exactly is going on.

My advice: beware of red, woolen yarn!
I highly recommend this beautiful movie.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Etsy lust

There are so many AMAZING artists and crafters out there.
Every time I flip through Etsy, I get inspired.... and perhaps a bit envious.

Here are some things I am currently lusting over:

This comes in other colors as well. It's amazing.

I love these. The quaintness improves on the glamorous color.

I would totally wear this as a necklace; secretly taking little nips here and there.

You know what state I would totally get. 
I'll give you a hint: it's the first state.

This is incredibly beautiful.

I love the colors in this. It brings me thoughts of crisp fall days.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Paranormal doodads

Paranormal Entity is today's movie of choice.

Reviews hailed it as the poor man's Paranormal Activity, but I was certainly willing to give it a shot.
And I've got to say, I was not really impressed. The main thing about Paranormal Activity was the feeling of realness. The attention to detail was fantastic; you felt like you were in the couple's home.
However, in Paranormal Entity, while bedrooms were panned over, they felt sterile. It was as if they were lifted from a Sears catalog. Rooms perfectly neat, no posters, no mess, no personal effects.

Well except for the guy's room, which looked like it was purposely made messy. As if the director was like, "Hey pull back the sheets on the bed. Yeah, that's good. Oh! Throw some random change on the bureau. And for the money shot, put some rumpled pants on the floor over there. Oh yeah, it looks like an average dude's room now!"

Except it doesn't.

And then the sister doesn't know how to use a kettle.
Seriously, I had to rewind it because I couldn't believe it the first run through.
Attention to detail, folks. Learn to use a kettle, please.

The 'bickering' between the brother and sister was forced. I was cringing through it.
The mom was.... wishy washy at times, but that might have been the point, so I can't really fault that. Although, it was a bit too easy to change her mind.

So, at one point, the women leave and the brother turns into MacGuyver, complete with fishing wire and bells.
And I must simple ask this... do guys normally have bells? Just, you know, random bells? Hanging around for situations like this...
I felt like I was watching Home Alone for a minute there.

Movie Rule to stay alive #78: don't taunt demons, ghosts or anything that can hurt/kill/maim you. If you do, you're asking for it.

Bells can't save you, you know.
And your doors suck, by the way.

Also, a word to the wise: if you have some sort of demon haunting you, stalking you and touching you while you sleep, you really shouldn't wear provocative things. Sleeping in matching bra and panties set is just asking for trouble.

My recommendation is to watch this movie with friends so you can make fun of it.

In the end, all I could say was, "Wut?"

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

A tale of love; a history of terror

El Orfanato/The Orphanage was highly recommended by friends, movie reviewers and horror buffs.

The movie opens at, you guessed it, an orphanage where you see children playing, specifically Laura, whom would be adopted shortly after the children's game.
Years later, Laura would renovate and reopen the orphanage as a home for special needs children.
All seems pretty normal.
The house is beautiful, she has an adorable son and a sweetie for a husband.

Then, the movie took a dramatic turn I didn't expect.

And gave me an ending that I adored even though it broke my heart.

I really liked the eerie presence of the movie and the lack of obnoxious jump scares. The intriguing setting and mysterious goings-on didn't hurt either.

I highly recommend this movie watched with the lights turned off and while staying in a creaky house.


The poster and the tagline fit perfectly once I got to the end.

By the way, for those of you that saw it, what do you think Carlos saw?

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Pass the candy corn, please

October's here and it's going to be pretty fun; I'll be watching and reviewing a few choice horror movies.
My plan is to post every other day as time and annoying things allow.
Grab a big bowl of popcorn and your closest plushie as we delve into the frightfest.

There are a few must-see movies that have already been reviewed.
Be sure to check them out here, here, here, here and here.