(WARNING: THE FOLLOWING ADDRESSES MY PERSONAL OPINION ON WHAT I CONSIDER TO BE GOOD MOVIES TO WATCH AROUND THIS TIME OF YEAR. ANYTHING I SAY IS SUBJECTIVE, SO IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH SOME OF MY CHOICES THEN TAKE THEM WITH A GRAIN OF SALT. PLEASE DO NOT POST RUDE COMMENTS ABOUT MY THOUGHTS; IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO TALK ABOUT BETTER MOVIES, PLEASE EXPLAIN THEM IN A RESPECTFUL MANNER. THANK YOU.)
I will talk about films that are animated, gory, controversial, cheesy and so forth, but they are all movies that I find intrigue in enough to include on my list. I will try not to post any recommendations for movies that may be popular enough to get watched by thousands already. I want to give lesser known movies a chance to shine; so films like 'Hocus Pocus' and 'Elf' are probably not going to show up on these things.
I plan on talking about at least six movies each HMS post. Each one will have a small paragraph that states my general thoughts about the film and why it deserves a watch. I'm going to try to keep this up for most of the major holidays and see how popular it gets. If it's not a very good strategy, then I will end it.
On that note, I present to you my very first post of Holiday Movie Suggestions!
Category is: Halloween.
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I absolutely love Halloween!
From the tons of candy given out to the creative costumes people would wear, Halloween may be considered the Devil's birthday to some, but it is still a hell of a good time and it doesn't necessarily have to involve demonic or scary things as one might think. In fact, according to History.com, when Halloween-or as it was known back then 'Samhain'- was created as an ancient Celtic festival, it was a day where people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off any ghosts nearby.
Back then, Halloween was more of a day to keep bad things away rather than bring them in and you could say the same thing for modern times. For Halloween fans, the holiday is celebrated through trick-or-treating, going to parties or just having fun with those you love. It's a holiday that's grown into a family-friendly occasion for the most part, we invite people to embrace their creativity and enjoy delicious sweets. That to me is a big middle finger to the Devil's birthday, because we do not fear it, we make fun of it.
Personally, I have many great memories of Halloween. I remember being driven to a fancy neighborhood to get the best sweets and I remember dressing up for school and the teachers would walk us around the building to show off our costumes. All of my memories with Halloween have been innocent, but now that I am older, I am able to engage in a darker side of Halloween and by that I mean watching horror movies.
While Halloween shouldn't be feared, it can be the perfect time to feel scared and spook your family and friends. So I have listed a variety of movies below ranging from family-friendly to disturbing.
All can be decent films to watch on this special occasion.
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.
.
.
I absolutely love Halloween!
From the tons of candy given out to the creative costumes people would wear, Halloween may be considered the Devil's birthday to some, but it is still a hell of a good time and it doesn't necessarily have to involve demonic or scary things as one might think. In fact, according to History.com, when Halloween-or as it was known back then 'Samhain'- was created as an ancient Celtic festival, it was a day where people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off any ghosts nearby.
Back then, Halloween was more of a day to keep bad things away rather than bring them in and you could say the same thing for modern times. For Halloween fans, the holiday is celebrated through trick-or-treating, going to parties or just having fun with those you love. It's a holiday that's grown into a family-friendly occasion for the most part, we invite people to embrace their creativity and enjoy delicious sweets. That to me is a big middle finger to the Devil's birthday, because we do not fear it, we make fun of it.
Personally, I have many great memories of Halloween. I remember being driven to a fancy neighborhood to get the best sweets and I remember dressing up for school and the teachers would walk us around the building to show off our costumes. All of my memories with Halloween have been innocent, but now that I am older, I am able to engage in a darker side of Halloween and by that I mean watching horror movies.
While Halloween shouldn't be feared, it can be the perfect time to feel scared and spook your family and friends. So I have listed a variety of movies below ranging from family-friendly to disturbing.
All can be decent films to watch on this special occasion.
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Rating- PG
Genre- Fantasy/Romance/Musical
Warnings- Mentions of death and afterlife
The animated film 'Corpse Bride' is one of my favorite movies created by American-film director Timothy Walter 'Tim' Burton. Burton has made a lot of creepy movies I've grown to love, but this one holds a special place in my heart since I saw it at a young age and I remember growing fond over the characters and I was really interested in their struggle to find true love and how everything would turn out.
The story behind 'Corpse Bride' is about a timid and meek gentleman named Victor who is arranged to be married. As he practices his vows in the woods, he encounters a deceased woman who wishes to marry him and bring him to the Land of the Dead.
I think this movie has an easy plot to follow and really shows the audience the pain that main characters Victor (Johnny Depp) and Emily (Helena Bohamn-Carter) go through in life and in death. It makes an interesting comparison between their realities, with Victor being in a boring, gray world of the living while Emily spends her afterlife in a festive, colorful world of the dead. The movie makes you debate who are the real people that are living as well as what sacrifices you would make for true love.
The animation is great and there is a lot of piano music in this feature so if you love piano this is for you. The songs are ear worms, very catchy and hard to get out of your head for a while and strangely enough, most of them are slow songs. I think only one or two songs are very upbeat while the others are like sad ballads, yet I loved each and every one of them.
The color scheme is solid and sets up the aura of the environment nicely. The settings differ greatly from one another which is a plus. The living characters' personalities may come off a little bland, but I think it works here because it does show how living people are much more different from those who have died. There is also a beautiful ending scene that I remember tearing up on, so I think that deserves a watch.
I would recommend this movie to people ages of 8 and up, since it is revolving around death and has many images of corpses and skeletons that may frighten very young viewers. Plus, when the scenes in the living world arrive, younger children may lose interest due to the color scheme while others would know to appreciate the stylistic avenue the creator was taking.
I give 'Corpse Bride' a 4 out of 5 stars.
The story behind 'Corpse Bride' is about a timid and meek gentleman named Victor who is arranged to be married. As he practices his vows in the woods, he encounters a deceased woman who wishes to marry him and bring him to the Land of the Dead.
I think this movie has an easy plot to follow and really shows the audience the pain that main characters Victor (Johnny Depp) and Emily (Helena Bohamn-Carter) go through in life and in death. It makes an interesting comparison between their realities, with Victor being in a boring, gray world of the living while Emily spends her afterlife in a festive, colorful world of the dead. The movie makes you debate who are the real people that are living as well as what sacrifices you would make for true love.
The animation is great and there is a lot of piano music in this feature so if you love piano this is for you. The songs are ear worms, very catchy and hard to get out of your head for a while and strangely enough, most of them are slow songs. I think only one or two songs are very upbeat while the others are like sad ballads, yet I loved each and every one of them.
The color scheme is solid and sets up the aura of the environment nicely. The settings differ greatly from one another which is a plus. The living characters' personalities may come off a little bland, but I think it works here because it does show how living people are much more different from those who have died. There is also a beautiful ending scene that I remember tearing up on, so I think that deserves a watch.
I would recommend this movie to people ages of 8 and up, since it is revolving around death and has many images of corpses and skeletons that may frighten very young viewers. Plus, when the scenes in the living world arrive, younger children may lose interest due to the color scheme while others would know to appreciate the stylistic avenue the creator was taking.
I give 'Corpse Bride' a 4 out of 5 stars.
Rating- Not Rated
Genre- Thriller/Horror
Warnings- Body mutilation, sexual assault, attempted rape, disturbing imagery
Directed by David Guy Levy, 'Would you Rather' takes a commonly known game of the same title involving choosing between two difficult dilemmas and expands it into a full-length feature film. The story focuses on main character, Iris (Brittany Snow) and her terrible experience at an aristocrat's home as he tortures her and random strangers in a life-or-death version of Would you Rather, in the hopes of winning his sadistic game to gain money to help treat her brother's disease.
It's a fun concept to think about, but I think the movie would have been better if they allowed the characters to move around more often. They are seated at a dinner table throughout the majority of the movie, so we are not given any new and creative environments to take in. The way the torture is done becomes repetitive given that we know each person is going to be asked the same question and the type of torture is usually the same thing that happens to everyone. Although, if you like dark humor then you'll get a kick out of seeing main villain Shepard Lambrick (Jeffrey Combs) loving how het gets to toy with all of these people.
Some of the victims do not have much backstory behind them until right before their death, so this gives the audience no time to understand what they've been through and how we should feel about it. The torture itself isn't very gruesome, you don't see much blood shed and potentially gory scenes are not shown in great detail. Still, I would recommend this to people who find humor in a bad movie and are with a group of friends to make fun of it with.
I give 'Would you Rather' a 2 1/2 out of 5 stars.
SCARY GODMOTHER: HALLOWEEN SPOOKTACULAR (2004)
Trailer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cxt_pvWeDI
Rating- N/A
Genre- Animation
Warnings- None
Directed by Ezekiel Norton and Terry Klassen, 'Scary Godmother' was a movie inspired by the Scary Godmother series of children's books and comic books created by author Jill Thompson.
I watched this movie almost every year around Halloween, not only because it aired annually on Cartoon Network but because it was such a joy to watch. It was one of the staples in my Halloween experience that made the holiday so fun. The story is about a young girl named Hannah Marie who is afraid of monsters and is pranked by her older cousin, Jimmy and his friends but thanks to the help of her Scary Godmother along with other friendly monsters, Hannah gets back at Jimmy and the others and becomes friends with monsters.
Without reading the stories, you will still understand the plot and have a ton of fun seeing these wacky characters entertain Hannah and be kind to her. The animation is a little goofy, especially with their facial expressions but I don't find it horrible, I think it fits with the atmosphere of the story.
The characters are likable and funny, and Hannah is a positive role model for the young ones who may be afraid of things that they don't understand because they can see through Hannah that not everything is as it seems. Even Jimmy and his friends aren't terrible, they were mean to Hannah but the movie doesn't plot them as children of satan. They have dimension to them and so I never found myself hating them at all.
You really get the Halloween vibe from this movie and you feel so happy entering this world and hearing the spooky soundtrack and colorful settings. All in all, this is one of those feel good halloween movies you can show to people ages 5 and up. There is currently a sequel to this called 'Scary Godmother: The Revenge of Jimmy' that you can check out if you end up enjoying this one.
I give 'Scary Godmother' a 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.
ABC'S OF DEATH (2012)
Trailer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auXuGdZxqQM
Rating- Not Rated
Genre- Comedy/Horror
Warnings- Inappropriate language, disturbing imagery, sexual scenarios, sex scenes, nudity, gore, body mutilation, animal cruelty, animal death, child abuse
I did a review on this movie back on November in 2014, back when my blog was still fresh and in desperate need of professional improvement (by the way, still improving day by day) but I believe this is good enough to be talked about again as a recommendation for Halloween.
'ABCs of Death' consists of 26 directors creating a story that describes different ways to die, all while corresponding to a letter of the alphabet. The stories transfer from real life to animated to claymation and some stories have different languages from English to Spanish and so forth. I still remember many of the stories within this film for how outrageous they were. If you watch this, you might find some stories strange, diabolical, disgusting and even too uncomfortable to look at. I needed a break halfway through the film to not make myself throw up at all the imagery that was thrown at me.
Even so, a movie involving 26 creative minds is bound to have several gems, and the fact that I do remember scenes from this movie after not watching it for a while is impressive. While scenes are strange, they are memorable and it doesn't mean that they aren't good. If you are sensitive to blood, sexual scenes and fetishes involving things such as furries, futanari and so on, then this movie may not be for you.
This is not for children at all, I would suggest only people 18 and up watch this. There is currently a sequel to this, including new directors making stories; that I haven't watched yet. If you end up liking this, you may want to check it out.
I give the 'ABCs of Death' a 2 1/2 out of 5 stars.
9 (2009)
Trailer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qApXdc1WPY
Rating- PG-13
Genre- Fantasy/Mystery
Warnings- Violence, disturbing imagery
Usually kids movies are very tame with their violence and try not to reveal dark themes, but this one is unlike the others. The movie '9' is about a rag doll named 9 who comes to life into a post-apocalyptic world where humans no longer exist. He finds several other rag dolls like himself and convinces them to face off against machines that intend to hurt them so they could figure out why the machines want them destroyed.
I remember watching this when I was 12 years old and it frightened me a lot, but I was also curious on how the story would end.
This movie is very plot driven and can be a little complex for younger children. It addresses dark themes like war and death, even the characters are not spared from death so do not expect a very happy ending. However, the animation is good but the setting is dark, like a dirty green-brown appeal to it that fits with the plot. The characters have their own personality so you can tell them apart, but their appearance also shows their diversity as well.
This movie can be watched by people 13 and up, but depending on how much your child can handle, I say you can go as far as showing an 11 year old this feature.
I give '9' a 3 out of 5 stars.
Vile (2011)
Trailer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G9L-QSVPns
It's a fun concept to think about, but I think the movie would have been better if they allowed the characters to move around more often. They are seated at a dinner table throughout the majority of the movie, so we are not given any new and creative environments to take in. The way the torture is done becomes repetitive given that we know each person is going to be asked the same question and the type of torture is usually the same thing that happens to everyone. Although, if you like dark humor then you'll get a kick out of seeing main villain Shepard Lambrick (Jeffrey Combs) loving how het gets to toy with all of these people.
Some of the victims do not have much backstory behind them until right before their death, so this gives the audience no time to understand what they've been through and how we should feel about it. The torture itself isn't very gruesome, you don't see much blood shed and potentially gory scenes are not shown in great detail. Still, I would recommend this to people who find humor in a bad movie and are with a group of friends to make fun of it with.
I give 'Would you Rather' a 2 1/2 out of 5 stars.
SCARY GODMOTHER: HALLOWEEN SPOOKTACULAR (2004)
Trailer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cxt_pvWeDI
Genre- Animation
Warnings- None
Directed by Ezekiel Norton and Terry Klassen, 'Scary Godmother' was a movie inspired by the Scary Godmother series of children's books and comic books created by author Jill Thompson.
I watched this movie almost every year around Halloween, not only because it aired annually on Cartoon Network but because it was such a joy to watch. It was one of the staples in my Halloween experience that made the holiday so fun. The story is about a young girl named Hannah Marie who is afraid of monsters and is pranked by her older cousin, Jimmy and his friends but thanks to the help of her Scary Godmother along with other friendly monsters, Hannah gets back at Jimmy and the others and becomes friends with monsters.
Without reading the stories, you will still understand the plot and have a ton of fun seeing these wacky characters entertain Hannah and be kind to her. The animation is a little goofy, especially with their facial expressions but I don't find it horrible, I think it fits with the atmosphere of the story.
The characters are likable and funny, and Hannah is a positive role model for the young ones who may be afraid of things that they don't understand because they can see through Hannah that not everything is as it seems. Even Jimmy and his friends aren't terrible, they were mean to Hannah but the movie doesn't plot them as children of satan. They have dimension to them and so I never found myself hating them at all.
You really get the Halloween vibe from this movie and you feel so happy entering this world and hearing the spooky soundtrack and colorful settings. All in all, this is one of those feel good halloween movies you can show to people ages 5 and up. There is currently a sequel to this called 'Scary Godmother: The Revenge of Jimmy' that you can check out if you end up enjoying this one.
I give 'Scary Godmother' a 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.
ABC'S OF DEATH (2012)
Trailer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auXuGdZxqQM
Rating- Not Rated
Genre- Comedy/Horror
Warnings- Inappropriate language, disturbing imagery, sexual scenarios, sex scenes, nudity, gore, body mutilation, animal cruelty, animal death, child abuse
I did a review on this movie back on November in 2014, back when my blog was still fresh and in desperate need of professional improvement (by the way, still improving day by day) but I believe this is good enough to be talked about again as a recommendation for Halloween.
'ABCs of Death' consists of 26 directors creating a story that describes different ways to die, all while corresponding to a letter of the alphabet. The stories transfer from real life to animated to claymation and some stories have different languages from English to Spanish and so forth. I still remember many of the stories within this film for how outrageous they were. If you watch this, you might find some stories strange, diabolical, disgusting and even too uncomfortable to look at. I needed a break halfway through the film to not make myself throw up at all the imagery that was thrown at me.
Even so, a movie involving 26 creative minds is bound to have several gems, and the fact that I do remember scenes from this movie after not watching it for a while is impressive. While scenes are strange, they are memorable and it doesn't mean that they aren't good. If you are sensitive to blood, sexual scenes and fetishes involving things such as furries, futanari and so on, then this movie may not be for you.
This is not for children at all, I would suggest only people 18 and up watch this. There is currently a sequel to this, including new directors making stories; that I haven't watched yet. If you end up liking this, you may want to check it out.
I give the 'ABCs of Death' a 2 1/2 out of 5 stars.
9 (2009)
Trailer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qApXdc1WPY
Rating- PG-13
Genre- Fantasy/Mystery
Warnings- Violence, disturbing imagery
Usually kids movies are very tame with their violence and try not to reveal dark themes, but this one is unlike the others. The movie '9' is about a rag doll named 9 who comes to life into a post-apocalyptic world where humans no longer exist. He finds several other rag dolls like himself and convinces them to face off against machines that intend to hurt them so they could figure out why the machines want them destroyed.
I remember watching this when I was 12 years old and it frightened me a lot, but I was also curious on how the story would end.
This movie is very plot driven and can be a little complex for younger children. It addresses dark themes like war and death, even the characters are not spared from death so do not expect a very happy ending. However, the animation is good but the setting is dark, like a dirty green-brown appeal to it that fits with the plot. The characters have their own personality so you can tell them apart, but their appearance also shows their diversity as well.
This movie can be watched by people 13 and up, but depending on how much your child can handle, I say you can go as far as showing an 11 year old this feature.
I give '9' a 3 out of 5 stars.
Vile (2011)
Trailer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G9L-QSVPns
Rating- R
Genre- Horror
Warnings- Gore, disturbing scenes
Genre- Horror
Warnings- Gore, disturbing scenes
Directed by Taylor Sheridan, 'Vile' is what I would consider a torture porn. It's purpose for being is to show us as much pain inflicted on the characters as it can.
The story of 'Vile' is about four friends who are kidnapped and locked away in a house with six other people. Each of the captives must endure life-threatening torture in order to escape the home or else they will be trapped there forever.
As strange as it may sound, I have a pleasant viewing experience watching this. I was invested in the characters, the torture was painful for me to see and I remember crying for the characters at one point. I think when I was crying, it also had to do with the soundtrack that was playing during the scene, it made things so much more emotional and drove my emotions out of me.
This movie has a simple story but conveys the pain that each character experiences well. A couple characters can be stereotypical, but I think how the other characters react to that is what made me ignore it. Whatever I felt about someone, a character would speak my mind and that shows how realistic they are. They don't ignore the obvious and they are really trying to survive and don't waste time getting down to business.
Some flaws that I could say though are that the lightening can be too dark sometimes and the beginning and the end of the movie were lackluster, since the beginning was slow and the ending was a little confusing, but otherwise I liked this movie. I would suggest people ages 18 and up can watch it.
I give 'Vile' a 3 out of 5 stars.
The story of 'Vile' is about four friends who are kidnapped and locked away in a house with six other people. Each of the captives must endure life-threatening torture in order to escape the home or else they will be trapped there forever.
As strange as it may sound, I have a pleasant viewing experience watching this. I was invested in the characters, the torture was painful for me to see and I remember crying for the characters at one point. I think when I was crying, it also had to do with the soundtrack that was playing during the scene, it made things so much more emotional and drove my emotions out of me.
This movie has a simple story but conveys the pain that each character experiences well. A couple characters can be stereotypical, but I think how the other characters react to that is what made me ignore it. Whatever I felt about someone, a character would speak my mind and that shows how realistic they are. They don't ignore the obvious and they are really trying to survive and don't waste time getting down to business.
Some flaws that I could say though are that the lightening can be too dark sometimes and the beginning and the end of the movie were lackluster, since the beginning was slow and the ending was a little confusing, but otherwise I liked this movie. I would suggest people ages 18 and up can watch it.
I give 'Vile' a 3 out of 5 stars.
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