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Dexter (2006)
Downhill slide
The first 6 seasons were awesome - fun plot, dark humor, interesting characters. The last two were, by comparison, dreadful and seemed thrown together in order to wrap things up. Having Dexter's affair with yet another murderous hottie turn cutesy was just too much. The Hanna character went from a dangerous sociopath to tender mommy figure and total plot device, and it was a total turnoff. And even worse was the decision to make Debra discover that Dexter was a serial killer. It turned the story into a depressing soap opera.
Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring (1971)
You Can't Go Home Again
A young woman runs away from home, and she returns to find the same old dysfunctional family and the same old issues that made her leave. She struggles to resume her place in the family, but she isn't the same person she used to be.
Sally Field is now 70 years old, and Lane Bradbury is 78. This movie gives us a nostalgic look back to the time of hippie culture, but it also shows us that what goes on within families is timeless.
Jane Eyre (1943)
The Classic
Orson Welles is so sexy in this film that Joan Fontaine looks a bit lost. I didn't care for her in this film because basically, she lacked the complexity of the literary character and was too Hollywood-looking.
So much was left out in the film adaptation that the ending seemed hastily thrown together. The best scenes were the Lowood School scenes (featuring a very young Elizabeth Taylor as the ill-fated Helen).
I have watched several film versions of the book, and there are some I like much better (the TV miniseries starring George C. Scott and Susannah York is my favorite), but this film is worth watching just to see how handsome and talented the great Orson Welles was, back in the day.
The Suspect (1944)
Suspenseful Feast
No plot summary here, just watch this film and if you're a film buff and love the old films, here ya go. You'll become fascinated and addicted to Charles Laughton, who is one of the greatest actors to ever appear in films. He breathes so much life and brings so much nuance into this role that it's supernatural.
Rope (1948)
Brilliant One-Act Play
This famous Hitchcock film is known for its setting - the entire thing takes place in a flat shared by the two murderers and is a one-act play inspired by the Leopold & Loeb 1924 murder case.
Two young men invite an acquaintance, a young man named David, to their apartment and strangle him to death. They place his body inside a wooden chest and in a macabre act of bravado and demonstration of their "superiority," they throw a party and set up a buffet from the top of the chest.
The dialogue sparkles as the guests mingle, but a shadow looms over the festivities when one guest, David, fails to arrive. Enter Rupert (the always awesome James Stewart), the young men's former mentor, who soon begins to pick up on the tension between the two, especially Phillip (Farley Granger), who is the most guilty-looking character ever on film. The other young man, Brandon (John Dall)), is an oily, arrogant elitist who engages Rupert and the other guests in a discussion about killing off "inferiors" for the good of society. Rupert joins in, obviously being facetious, and it is equally obvious that Brandon is not. Panicky, Phillip drinks too much and later in the film, Granger does a bang-up job portraying the young killer melting down in an agony of fear and guilt.
The art of Hitchcock is in the unequalled brilliance with which dialogue and timing are used to build suspense, draw in the viewer, and bring the story to a dramatic conclusion. Whatever you do, don't spoil the effect of this film by reading spoilers!!! Enjoy the ride, relish the sparkling, witty dialogue, and notice that even the camera work in this film is something marvelous. Watch this film. There isn't a dull moment in it, guaranteed. And believe it when people say with regret that they just don't make films like this anymore.
Now, Voyager (1942)
Sexy Romance
I'm not going to be repetitive here. If you want to know about the plot, there is a summary on the first screen.
What's amazing about this film is the chemistry between Paul Henreid and Bette Davis, and the sexual sparks fly off the screen.
Davis, a unique-looking actress, looked sleek as a cat in this film. No actress ever had such a feline way of walking as Davis did. Her wardrobe was designed by the legendary Orry Kelly, who won an Oscar for the exquisite gowns Davis wore in the film.
Henreid was never so smoulderingly sexy as he was in this film. The classic cigarette-lighting scenes set the screen on fire.
A story of love, passion and self discovery, this is a classic film and a must-see. Now go do it.
Phone Call from a Stranger (1952)
Great Story in a Fine Vintage Film
I began watching this film because I'm a Bette Davis fan, and this was one of her films I had never seen. It turned out to be a real treat to find the supporting cast included a very young Shelley Winters, Keenan Wynn, Michael Rennie and Gary Merrill, the starring character who weaves the others' stories together into an anthology. Merrill, who plays a lawyer named David Trask, has left his wife and kids back in Iowa after she confesses to him that she had an affair.
The four board a plane on a rainy night and get to know each other especially when the plane is forced to land before its destination. In the morning, the passengers re-board the aircraft only for the plane to crash before it reaches Los Angeles, its destination. Of the four travelers, only Gary Merrill's character, David Trask, survives.
Trask decides to visit the surviving relatives of each of his dead traveling companions. Each visit is a vignette whose theme is always love - the pain, the joy, and the things people do for love.
Davis appears in the last vignette, which is the most surprising and satisfying of all.
I recommend this film highly as both a fine vintage piece showcasing several iconic actors and as an absorbing and satisfying story.
The Possession (2012)
Not for Me
After The Exorcist, I find movies about possession to be unoriginal and tedious, and this one was no different.
Add to it a very annoying character - the mother of the possessed girl, played by Kyra Sedgwick complete with the bitchy ex-wife thing going full speed, made me start walking away from the screen before the film was half over.
But if you like this kind of thing, go for it. It's well produced and acted, with some minor gross-outs to keep it interesting. But it's mediocre to the end.
Before and After (1996)
Not Credible, a Low Point for Neeson and Streep
A well-off family suffers a crisis when their teenaged son is accused of killing a girl he was dating.
The plot develops as expected, with the police suspicions wearing away at the parents' denial, especially the father's.
I found the film's dialogue annoying, the characters unlikable, and I was totally surprised that Streep and Neeson would appear in it.
Not recommended unless there's nothing else to watch or you don't mind watching a film while in a state of continual annoyance.
Neverlake (2013)
Unusual
I'm a little different from many horror fans in that I appreciate a good story line within the genre without necessarily needing to be scared by it. Such is the case with Neverlake.
Jenny comes to her father's Tuscany home from New York as a teenager, not having seen him since she went away to school. The house is near a lake with a rich history of Etruscan legends, which Jenny's father is researching.
Soon she becomes bored because Dad tends to be elusive, his housekeeper is rather brittle and Jenny doesn't like her. One day she takes a walk and meets a blind girl who takes her to visit the orphanage where she lives. She tells Jenny, "It's fine, just don't let the grownups see you. They're bad." Jenny continues to visit, and one night she learns the full history of the lake and its power.
Meanwhile, the relationship between Jenny and her father becomes stranger and stranger. One night, she faints, only to wake up in a hospital bed with her father explaining that she'd been sick with an infection and had needed surgery. A heavily drugged Jenny goes back to sleep to wake up back in her own bed.
The story slows down a bit, and some viewers may become bored, but I found the film so atmospheric that it kept me engaged. Piece by piece, Jenny begins to learn of the powers of the lake and her father's involvement in the strange orphanage. The children send Jenny on a mission that brings the story to its very satisfying conclusion.
I will say that it was the first time I felt like crying at the end of a horror film. And that wouldn't have happened without an interesting story, good actors and a rich atmosphere in which to tell this unusual tale. You won't find monsters or ghosts in this film, but you won't need them because the horror comes not from the dead, but the living. I recommend this film highly for those cold, dark nights when you want to settle in with a good story with both atmosphere and foreboding.
Duel (1971)
Spielberg"s First Film
The first time I saw this film it was the Movie of the Week on ABC television and I was a high school freshman. It was unlike the usual TV movie fare because it featured a respected actor, Dennis Weaver, in a tour de force as the lone protagonist in a fight for his life.
Weaver plays a businessman returning home in his car from a business trip, driving across the desert along mostly deserted roads. After having an argument with his wife on the phone, he feels a bit grumpy so he gets even with the rude bastard in a battered old oil tanker truck who cut him off by aggressively passing him. Here's where the Duel begins.
The driver of the tanker truck is never seen, and so the truck itself becomes the monster stalking the hapless motorist. Soon it becomes apparent that the monster means to kill him.
Weaver's talent and skill as an actor are crucial to telling the story effectively. We feel what he feels - the anger, impatience, fear, despair, and finally, when he knows what he must do to prevail, his courage.
This is a suspense film, and also a horror story to keep you on the edge of your seat. In the time before cell phones, we were on our own out there, and it was a wilderness. This is a classic film and whether you're a Spielberg fan or not, it should be on your list of iconic films.
The Dark Hours (2005)
I'm Confused
Psychiatrist with a brain tumor spends a weekend with her husband and sister at their cabin. A knock on the door brings a young man who turns out to have a gun. Shortly thereafter, another man arrives, and he turns out to be a former patient of the doctor's, and he wants revenge. While he was in her care, he was given injections of an experimental drug that the doctor was trying on him as a guinea pig because they both have the same type of brain tumor.
As the victims are held hostage, psychological games are played; I don't understand why except there has to be a reason to make this movie. Secrets are revealed, of course.
I got confused at the end. I must have missed something because it didn't make any sense to me at all. But I give this film 5 stars for the good acting and the dialogue.
The House (2011)
Great Little Film
When I discovered this film it was categorized as a horror movie, when in fact it's a character driven story of a young woman who, after giving up her job as an investment banker, stays in a friend's mother's exquisite modern mansion intending to write a travelogue. She soon finds that the place is haunted by some people who were involved in an auto accident and somehow have found their immortal spirits dwelling within this house.
After initially being frightened by the ghosts, she slowly gets to know them, and their stories merge with hers to create a film work that portrays the sadness and joy of being alive.
To say much else would spoil this rather unique film.
The Tunnel (2011)
Unexpected Sophistication
You won't find the usual "found footage" type film here. A step above the usual cheesy effort at authenticity that rarely succeeds, this one has an overall better quality that translates to a better viewer experience.
A journalist and her crew descend into an old, disused labyrinth of tunnels that had been a shelter for soldiers during the war. Not surprisingly, some creepy events, and the disappearance of a crew member, lead to panic, after which the remaining 3 people find themselves lost in the maze of passageways leading to gory surprises, but no way out.
The pacing of the plot is crucial in building suspense and fear, and this film did an adequate job of it. The hand held camera stuff is annoying at times (too dark, too much camera jiggle and too many shots of the floor and people's feet) but much better than what you usually find in this subgenre.
What shines is the acting; the characters are authentic and believable, their relationships with each other adding depth to the plot. The ending is not what one would expect in such a film, but I liked it; apparently, the filmmakers hate cheesy endings.
Recommended for adults but nightmarish for kids.
The Night Flier (1997)
Miguel Ferrer in a Great Role
Miguel Ferrer breathed life into the role of jaded tabloid reporter Richard Dees, who is determined to chase down the Night Flier, a serial killer who exsanguinates his victims as he travels from place to place in a small plane. Ferrer's character is a driven, self centered man who has no interest in life other than his next sensational byline.
A young female competitor brings out the worst in him, and he leaves her behind while he pursues the vampire responsible for the killings. What Richard encounters is more than he bargained for. The ending is actually better than for most of King's stories.
The acting, especially Ferrer's, is good. He also appeared in the TV miniseries adaptation of King's novel, The Stand, the same year The Night Flier was made. May Ferrer rest in peace; we will miss him.
All Hallows' Eve 2 (2015)
Disappointed
I was disappointed. None of the vignettes were very scary, and I think it was because they were too short to build up any real suspense or sense of dread that was so well used in the first film.
The pumpkin head guy wasn't scary or menacing at all, unfortunately. And the ending was a cheap rip-off from the first film.
It just fell totally flat, so I am surprised that it got good reviews.
The Paper Boy (1994)
Who's Afraid of a 12 Year Old?
The problem is, these movies are so predictable. It's like these people want to remake "The Bad Seed" over and over again. This kid isn't even scary but is breathtakingly annoying. The object of his obsession, a young woman with a little daughter, is so clueless as to how to get rid of him that it boggles the viewer's mind.
Frightening? No, because it's predictable. This movie has been made, remade, and made yet again.
The Last Light (2011)
Tedious
I was bored beyond endurance and it took me 3 days to get through this film, most of which is so damn dark you can't see what's going on except when the handyman is wandering around with a lit match. Even then, you're mostly guessing.
This could have been a neat little tale except that it's too long and there wasn't enough imagination put into it. The setting is atmospheric enough, but too bad it wasn't used to its best advantage.
All Hallows' Eve (2013)
It Scared Me
This was unusually well done. For one thing, clowns already unnerve a lot of people, and to use one as the pivot from which 2 out of 3 of the vignettes in this story revolve was a stroke of genius. The clown was gruesome and freaky, the kind that creeps out even adults, and although the stories weren't particularly imaginative, it didn't matter. That clown was the ultra-boogeyman.
The film centers around a babysitter and the two kids she's staying with on Halloween night. After trick-or-treating, they empty their haul out onto the table, and amongst the treasure the boy finds that mysteriously, a VHS tape was put into his bag. Curious, the three decide to see what's on the tape. From that point the film takes off.
Suspense, visceral horror, psychological fear and gross-out - all are here for horror fans to feast on. The ending wasn't a big surprise but was very well done. I went to bed after watching this film and dreamed of clowns all night. Great film.
The Covenant (2017)
Nothing New
The problem with these films about demonic possession is that most follow the same pattern and have the same outcome. This film is no exception. Its predictability makes it less than exciting and a bit tedious.
The most interesting thing about the film is the title, which is actually a half-assed spoiler (you'll see what I mean at the end of the film). Overall, it wasn't a very good film but if you like to watch variations of "The Exorcist," complete with the gross-looking possessed person tied to the bed speaking in tongues, this one's right up your alley.