milenavantova Reviews

The Last House on the Left (2009)

Brutal until not?

[7/10 · 1 April 2024]

I'm having a hard time giving this movie a higher rating even though I want to.

Mind you I have never seen the original, so I had no idea what I was going into. On the surface it looked like a cheesy horror film from the early 2000s, one of those that are simply fun to watch, especially when it's a revenge flick. I was very wrong.

At first I was caught off guard by Paige's murder. It was so sudden and it felt very real. There was no over-the-top gore, no drama, but to see a teenage girl getting stabbed by two men while her friend watches and screams, it was really really tough.

And then, Mari's r*pe scene. Man, it was extremely long and extremely hard to digest. This movie really dug its heels into the brutality of that scene. I hoped to see equally brutal death scenes when the parents were getting their revenge on the killers, but I don't think anything could've replicated the heaviness of the forest scene with Mari and Paige.

I guess some bonus points for the creativity around Krug's death, but after such REAL hardcore scenes, his head exploding in a microwave almost felt too cartoon-y for this film. All in all, a memorable watch.

You're Next (2011)

Survival done right

[9/10 · 26 May 2023]

When I started this movie I was pretty underwhelmed and even thought about switching it off, but oh boy were my eyes glued to the screen once the pace picked up. (Spoilers ahead)

I don't think I've ever seen a horror movie where the protagonist was actually consistently making smart decisions. This is proof that you don't need to make your hero slightly dumb or naive at times in order to create suspense or tragedy.

I was ESPECIALLY happy by one thing - When Erin first started fighting an intruder, she ACTUALLY made sure to keep beating him up until he was DONE. I cannot tell you how many times I've gotten frustrated by a character who would just *hit* the antagonist once and then make a run for it, and of course the bad guy catches up to them because they were left alive. For this alone, I would give this movie 5 stars.

And of course, the ending was the most satisfying thing I've seen since I watched the ending to Hunter Hunter. The blender scene was *chef's kiss* - I cannot recommend this movie enough!

Incident in a Ghostland (2018)

Genius film

[10/10 · 21 May 2023]

This movie was such a trip to watch, a criminally underrated horror, I cannot believe it took me this long to come across it. I found out about it through Instagram, and I only knew a few details, but even those didn't turn out how I thought they would.

It had every element that I would expect from a good horror movie, a great story setup, brilliant acting, production quality, plot twists, psychological terror, body horror, everything. One of the best I've watched, this one definitely goes in my all-time top 10 horrors.

I'm immediately looking into this director and I can't wait to see a few more of his works, although I doubt anything will top this. Must-see for any horror fan.