User blog:AustinDR/Thoughts on Some Horror Movies I've Seen This Year

1) Us: I still consider it a major disappointment as Peele's sophomore effort after Get Out. I thought on my reasons for not liking the movie for a long time, and at most, I feel the major issue is that it was presented as a national dilemma. Get Out felt more grounded. It was a smaller scale of what one family was doing, and while it did get into more fantastical elements, it was still implemented in such a way that it made considerable sense. It did have its main theme of there being a new form of racism that is more subtle (how the whites in the film most likely were convinced that they were being appreciative of black culture yet did not see them as human enough to not experiment on them). Us, however, tackles the more broad themes of how the disenfranchised are kicked to the curb or are mistreated as second class citizens who can only get the scraps. Not thinking about the logic behind the Tethered wouldn't be that bad if the movie didn't feel the need to make an exposition dump about their origins. Humor, I have no real issue with because humor in horror films tend to serve the purpose of easing the tension.

2) It Chapter Two: I liked the film, but it was not as good as the first chapter. I also think that's where being faithful to the book served to hurt the film. The Ritual of Chud served no purpose, and the scene where the gay man is killed...honestly didn't need to be in the film. I read the book and I know why it was important, but film is a visual media. When you see how it's represented, the death didn't amount to much in the grand scheme of things. The film introduces new additions that also served no purpose than to show how evil Pennywise is and the side quests padded the film for me. Flashbacks to the younger cast was appreciated, but it didn't add onto the film.

3) Pet Sematary: I personally liked it. The only problem with the film is how they went about changing who died. Gage dying in the original was more tragic because he was just a toddler who didn't know to not run into the road. Ellie, however, was older and should've known that running out into the road was a bad idea. It just didn't pack the same emotional punch as in the '89 film.

4) Annabelle Comes Home: Can hardly remember the film much. Annabelle is simply not a scary character. The film felt more like a Goosebumps episode where one of the main purposes of it is to show off other ghosts and evil spirits who may as well branch out to have their own spin-offs in the ever-growing Conjuring Universe.

5) Brightburn: I've seen the evil Superman trope done better in comic books like Irredeemable. Brandon was meant to be seen as tragic, but instead just comes off as a sociopathic monster. The conflict could've been avoided in numerous ways such as with Tori telling her husband about finding out their son's weakness, or simply destroyed the spaceship when they found him, but instead, the film happens because of poor communication.

4) Ma: An average movie about teenagers that I hated. It was only saved slightly by Octavia Spencer's acting.

5) Child's Play: I liked Harmill's rendition of Chucky and how they go about reinterpreting the character. The only problems being that the other characters are not that memorable/likable. The actress that played Andy's mother was too young to be in that role. They also really underplayed the technology aesthetic.

6) The Curse of La Llorona: Really was looking forward to this story because I loved the urban legend. But it was a terrible, terrible movie that suffers from the same cliches other horror films do.

7) Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: It was okay. If only because of Del Toro's monster designs. I would've loved an anthology film than the Goosebumps-esque one we got.