If you've read my Strange Log then you know I've been waiting to watch this movie for a good while. I've heard nothing but praise for this movie from various viewers I respect (Chris Stuckmann, Jeremy Jahns & ATZShow) and praise from others as well. The hype machine has gone ga-ga over this movie and this had me intrigued. Many were calling it the horror movie of the decade, best horror movie ever, etc. etc. and this just set my curiosity ablaze. I decided this was gonna be a movie I was gonna go in as cold as possible, so cold that I didn't see a trailer for it, didn't read a plot synopsis or anything, I wanted to know as little as possible going into the movie so I could be shocked, surprised and terrified as much as I possibly could. When the day came, I finally picked it up and blu-ray and watched it yesterday (as of the writing of this article 9-10-2018) and now after having seen it, I have much to say. This will require a preamble and SPOILERS. Let's begin.
PREAMBLE: Before I begin with the article proper I need to address a few things, the elitism of the people who liked this movie vs those who did not. Before we go any further let me say firmly that I did NOT like this movie at all. It was well acted, well directed, well shot and well written for what it was. But this movie presented its self as a horror movie a movie in which its intentions are to scare its viewer and I was not scared. I judge scared based on whether or not I'm capable of sleeping calmly at night and while I didn't sleep calmly, that was mostly due to my son getting up every 15 minutes as opposed to any psychological distressed the film attempted to inflict upon me.
The reason I'm stating all of this here in this preamble is because it seems those who liked this movie believe their tastes in horror films are better while others who did not like this movie are merely looking for cheap scares (jump scares, slashers, torture porn and the like)...ya know bottom barrel stuff, and that those who didn't like this movie are merely teenagers who don't know good horror or they just didn't understand the movie. Let me refute those in my case: I hate jump scares because they're not scary they're an activation of your fight or flight mechanism in your brain, that doesn't invoke fear it just means you were startled, surprised, caught off guard. I've ALWAYS hated slasher movies, Freddy Kruger, Jason, Chucky, Michael Myers, they're all bad jokes to me and they're all goofy to me. I can't take any of them seriously, even as a kid those films never scared me. Freddy made WAY too many jokes, Chucky's scream always made me laugh and Jason just looked too damn cool to for me to be afraid of him. Torture porn, I'll admit it, I enjoy the "Saw" films, not because they're scary but I love the traps and eventually the filmmakers caught onto that as well. But films like "Hostel" and all the others similar...no...watching someone get tortured for 2 hours doesn't sound appealing to me at all.
Lastly, I did understand the film completely, I have no misunderstandings about what I just watched, and I'll prove that not only when I discuss the film with spoilers but when I offer a critique on what I think would have improved the film, in my opinion. In conclusion, if you enjoyed this film, that's wonderful! I'm so glad you did. This film has found its audience and you can say that's you. I did not and that doesn't give you the ability to belittle anyone's opinion by assuming things about them. Horror is an EXTREMELY difficult genre to write and I applaud Ari Aster in writing something that many people enjoyed. That being said I did not and if you'd like to know why I'm gonna tell you. But bear in mind, opinions are subjective and I'm going to explain why this movie didn't work for me. Spoilers abound, enjoy.
Monday, September 10, 2018
Saturday, September 8, 2018
STRANGE LOG: Shredder Pops A Molly
Yes, yes, I know another Strange Log and no real articles DESPITE the constant movie news and what nots going on in various media. Forgive me, I'm having a hard time balancing being a father and working and finding time for my blog. But nonetheless here's what's going on in my life and what has my interest as of late. Let's dive in!
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