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Reviews
America's Most Haunted (2013)
funny, but not perfect
A very funny film about a paranormal TV show crew who bite off more than they can chew at a former logging camp in Michigan. The crew are mostly old hands at manufacturing evidence and are skeptical to say the least. It's a pretty good story with some genuinely good moments. The main fault that keeps it from being as good as The Selling or Housebound are pacing, it takes a good awhile for the movie to get going. Some of the characters are a little clichéd, there's the "hot girl" who serves no purpose other than looks. She comes with a simp who endlessly fawns over her, blah blah blah. The real hero of the group is Jimmy who has his priorities right. The group is subected to increasingly strong paranormal attacks as the night grows darker and the entities become increasingly forceful. There is a good twist at the end, and it's pretty well worth the slow start. There's also a good bit towards the beginning where you forget you're watching a comedy movie and slip into a paranormal show, but that's also part of why it takes this movie to get to its main plot point. They probably could have eliminated the first couple establishing scenes showing "we're a real paranormal ghost hunter show" stuff.
Housebound (2014)
Under-appreciated gem
This is not an unheard of movie, but I stopped believe it to be fully underrated. Funny relatable characters, wonderful cinematography, and even though the film claims to be low budget it really doesn't feel like it. The story centers around Kylie, a self-centered miscreant who has to return to her childhood home on house arrest. Kylie is very dislikeable at first, being a bully to her step-dad, her dim-witted and somewhat racist mother, well meaning social workers, and pretty much everyone who has the misfortune of meeting her. As her house arrest continues strange things begin happening that cause Kylie to wonder if her mum and step-dad are the only other inhabitants of the home. No spoilers here so go watch to find out how Kylie copes with being Housebound.
The Selling (2011)
funny, witty, original
So first things first, this is not a horror movie, it's a comedy. Not scary in the slightest, but very very funny. It wound up popping up on my feed after watching America's Most Haunted (2012) and Houseboind (2014), and it keeps up with both of those great comedies. The characters are all very funny without resorting to cliches, Janet Varney is delightfully devious. The main character Richard is down on his luck in a relatable but not pathetic way, even very brief characters such as coworkers are memorable. It really is a top notch satire on the ghost movie genre. It doesn't require the satire, it stands well on its own as a great comedy with awesome well-written characters.
The Beast of Bodmin Moor (2022)
ambitious
I should have hated this movie but I didn't. You can see the ambition, the intent is good. It actually tries to tell an interesting story, and it could have been really really good. Unfortunately it's not
It's not scary, the dialog is inane and the delivery is off. The two main actors act like the other isn't there. They use the blue filter more than Twilight, the special effects are awful, the acting is awful, and there are anachronism all over. Didn't know they had straightners in 18??, but the main character looks like Pete Wentz and Brendan Urie had a baby. It's not just him either, the costuming is pretty bad across the board. I don't hate this movie, I just feel bad for it, the idea is good, just let down by really bad execution.
All that being said, it's so bad it's good and several good laughs are scattered throughout, albeit, unintentionally.