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Reviews
The Ouija Experiment (2011)
No
This movie is terrible. It falls into so many found footage horror cliches and inconsistencies that it seems almost like a parody. If that was the intent, then it succeeds; but if it's trying to be serious, like I'm pretty sure it is, then it's horrendous.
The found footage plot device in and of itself has become a cliche nowadays, but it can be done well, and when done well it works. This movie, however, is not a found footage movie that uses this plot device well, at all. The main way to explain what I mean is that it's incredibly unreliable in implementing the found footage aspect: there is a scene where someone doesn't want to be filmed and then the guy turns off the camera and then the next scene he turns the camera back on right in front of the guy and lifts it up and the guy waits like 5 seconds to say he doesn't wanna be filmed again, making it obvious this isn't real found footage. Of course I know found footage films aren't real, but the point of the genre is to pretend it is real, and some movies really pull that off. This movie tries to be found footage but it's just so inconsistent.
Another example is that near the end of the film there's like this dream/flashback sequence on the origin of the ghost or demon or whatever haunting the characters. If this is found footage, then how the hell would we be seeing that? You can't explain why, and it literally comes out of nowhere, it really feels like it's part of a different movie. It makes no sense.
Oh and the acting is atrocious. None of these people seem authentic or genuine in anyway, which is critical in all movies but especially with found footage. The device simply loses effectiveness when you can tell it's just actors.
To sum it up, this movie sucks
Slaughtered Vomit Dolls (2006)
Ridiculously Pretentious
This movie is honestly one of the most pretentious movies I've ever seen. It is like an amalgamation of every single pretentious art house film trope ever: the found footage style to make up for the terrible production quality, the random over the top gore and nudity, the religious imagery, the reversed audio, the jumbled editing, the complete lack of any coherent plot or characters, etc. And for defenders of this film who will say, "it's not supposed to make sense; it's supposed to be open to interpretation; you missed the point of the movie," I will say, that doesn't matter. Yes, art is art, anyone can find some meaning in almost anything, but this movie is a jumbled mess. It's repetitive, beyond just the fact that it kinda just cycles between brutal violence and gore, people vomiting, and random abruptly cut, out of context dialogue, it literally reuses so much footage over and over. I swear they probably only recorded about 30 minutes of footage, and just extended it out to 110 minutes by just repeating the footage over and over. This movie gives me the terrible impression that it thinks it's super deep and creative and outside the box, when really it's just edgy for the sake of being edgy. Pushing boundaries and having a lot of nudity and gore isn't inherently pretentious, so long as it is doing those things for the sake of making a point or showing a deeper meaning. But this movie is the opposite of that, it's ridiculously over the top disgusting for the sake of being disgusting and getting attention.
Child's Play (1988)
Scary Fun
To be fair to this film, when I was a child, seeing this movie at an age I definitely should not have seen it at, the idea of Chucky absolutely terrified me. So regardless of the critiques I have of this film, it's clear it did something right.
The main problem with this movie is that it tries to be two different kinds of films at once. With a movie like this, the best way to go is to have it unclear if the doll is really alive or if it's all in the kid's head. And, honestly the first half of the movie plays that incredibly well. You never actually see Chucky move or talk until about half way thru the film's. The suspense and tension behind it would be incredibly effective if it weren't for one little thing: the opening scene of the movie shows Charles Lee Ray transferring his soul into the Good Guy doll. This removes any sense of suspense the movie had going for it, so I really don't understand why it spends so long playing off that idea that maybe the kid is just making it up. It really just comes off as tedious because we all know the doll is actually alive.
Another huge flaw in this movie is that, once Chucky learns that to get out of the doll he has to transfer his soul into the first person he revealed himself to (which in and of itself is just a convenient way to get the little kid back into the movie), he has literally so many chances to go thru with the spell or voodoo ritual or whatever you want to call it; multiple times he is halfway thru the chant to transfer his soul into Andy's body, but someone else comes in the room so he stops and pretends like he's just a doll again. Why on earth would he do that? Why wouldn't he just finish the chant, get out of the doll, and get rid of the witness later? Like what?
Another huge flaw in this movie and most of its sequels is that, apparently, the longer he stays in the doll the more human he becomes. That's a fine plot thread, sure, but the thing is even though he's apparently becoming more human it seems like in actuality the longer he stays in the doll the less human he becomes, because as the movie goes on he begins to survive things no human would. He gets shot multiple times, survives a car crash, and gets set on fire and still manages to stay alive. This again falls into the biggest problem in this movie: it says or uses one thing as a plot device, but when it's executed it totally ignores said plot device.
Once again, I have to say, this movie and it's villain are absolutely iconic. There's a reason Chucky is up there with other horror villains like Jason Vorhees, Michael Meyers, And Freddie Kruger: Because the idea of a killer doll is inherently terrifying. It clearly has some timeless quality to it which scares children to this day. So for all the complaints I have about this movie, it needs to be said, it clearly struck a chord with people and has been an important staple of the horror genre for decades. Maybe it's not high art, maybe it's not objectively a good film, but if you watch it only expecting a fun little horror movie and don't take it too seriously, it's rather enjoyable.
Child's Play (2019)
Better Than the Original
In the wake of many horror remakes being very bland and generic, adding nothing new to the original films, this remake is very refreshing. It's so different from the original Child's Play, that remake really is not the right word for it, it's more of a reimagining of the base idea of a killer doll.
The character of Chucky being a malfunctioning AI doll is much more appealing in this day and age than the doll possessed by a serial killer from the original. Though the movie doesn't play this up, it can also been seen as a warning about the dangers of AI and the whole everybody's technological assets being interconnected. It also turns Chucky from an evil character to just a naive, innocent, child-like character who is well intentioned and doesn't think he's doing anything wrong. This of course is more realistic than a possessed doll, and it's also a little more frightening than the original Chucky, because the original was straight up evil and actively did bad things, while this Chucky is honestly sympathetic because he really does not believe he's doing anything wrong.
While the plot is honestly nothing too special, the writing and acting very much make up for that. Specifically Mark Hamil as the voice of Chucky, whose portrayal is quite the opposite of Brad Dourif's original Chucky voice, is very fitting and also adds to the character's innocence.
Another great thing is that it really doesn't take itself too seriously. There's many genuinely funny moments sprinkled in between the scary moments. The original film was mostly devoid of humor and took itself too seriously considering the fact that the idea of a killer doll is inherently ridiculous. (It's a doll!! Just kick it over!!)
Overall, I'd say that this film is much better than the original Child's Play, but in some ways there's no point in comparing them as, other than names and the main premise of a killer doll, the two movies are not really the same at all. While there are some major flaws in it, it seems that many of this film's detractors are simply coming from the point of view that it's too different than the original, which in my opinion wasn't really even a good movie to begin with, so for me the change is more than welcome.
The Strangers (2008)
Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime
This film is very much a mixed bag, there's a lot of great things about it and a lot of bad things about it too, however, overall I tend to see more good in it than bad. The most genuinely scary part of this movie is the concept: three masked strangers picking a random house to terrorize. The people being attacked have no clue who these attackers are or why they're being attacked, which evokes the idea that these types of random acts of violence could potentially happen to anyone, anywhere, anytime.
The first half of the film is so atmospheric, suspenseful, and unsettling to that it's kind of amazing. It takes a long time building up a lot of tension before resorting to using jump scares. The scene where Liv Tyler is standing in the kitchen smoking a cigarette and in the background the Man in the Mask steps out from the shadows watching her is a genuinely creepy shot, and very much sums up what's great about the first half of the film is. That shot is honestly burned into my memory from watching this movie as a child at an age I shouldn't have seen it at, it terrified me, and lead me to have an irrational fear of masks for years. Yes, it really is that effective.
After a while, though, the film begins to slip into horror cliches such as jump scares and the main characters making incredibly irrational, stupid decisions. A great example is when the protagonists have a shotgun and hole up in a closet and make the smart decision to just sit there until one of the attackers comes so they can easily shoot them, only to decide less than five minutes later to leave the closet and split up. Despite these decisions in the latter half of the film, the concept of the film is enough to overlook those poorly written moments simply because if you were in this position, totally scared for your life, you'd probably also make some impulsive, irrational decisions.
Overall this movie posses an unsettling nature thru it's concept, asserted by the fact that this could realistically happen to anyone, which for the most part overshadows the negative aspects of the film.