Movie Spotlight: Freaks of Nature

Freaks of Nature is a 2015 movie starring Nicholas Braun, Mackenzie Davis, Josh Fadem, Joan Cusack, Bob Odenkirk, Keegan-Michael Key, Ed Westwick, Patton Oswalt, Vanessa Hudgens, and Denis Leary. Dilford is a peaceful town where humans, vampires, and zombies get along just fine...until the alien apocalypse happens. Now the humans, vampires, and zombies are fighting each other, and human Dag (Nicholas Braun), vampire Petra (Mackenzie Davis), and zombie Ned (Josh Fadem) must work together to rid their town of the aliens and help Dilford return to the way it used to be.

I watched Freaks of Nature for Bob Odenkirk, Patton Oswalt, and Denis Leary, and even though they weren't in the movie as much as I would've liked, I still enjoyed it. Freaks of Nature is a fun movie with a big surprise near the end, and I like that it isn't just a vampire movie, zombie movie, or alien movie...it's ALL THREE!

My rating: 7.5/10

Horror Movie Month: Poltergeist (2015)

When I heard that a new Poltergeist movie was coming out this year, I knew I had to go see it. The trailer was pretty good, and I was sure I'd like it more than Poltergeist 2 and 3.  The 2015 version was directed by Gil Kenan and stars Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, Saxon Sharbino, Kyle Catlett, Kennedi Clements, Jared Harris, Jane Adams, Susan Heyward, and Nicholas Braun. This movie is about a different family than the one that was being tormented in the other Poltergeist movies, and I was glad that the little girl wasn't named Carol Anne in this one...after hearing that name more than 100 times in Poltergeist 3, I would be happy to never hear that name again. ; ) The Bowens are the ones being tormented this time around: father Eric (Sam Rockwell), mother Amy (Rosemarie DeWitt), teenage daughter Kendra (Saxon Sharbino), son Griffin (Kyle Catlett), and youngest daughter Madison (Kennedi Clements). When Madison is taken by evil spirits, the family must do everything in their power to bring her back, which includes enlisting the help of Carrigan Burke (Jared Harris), the host of a show called Haunted House Cleaners (note to networks: please make this a real show ASAP).

I'm not one of those irritating people who think that no movie should ever be remade and then spends way too much time complaining about it on the internet, so I really liked Poltergeist. I enjoyed every minute of it, and while I wouldn't necessarily say the movie scared me (the original didn't either), there were parts that really creeped me out, and I spent the whole movie feeling a sense of dread and anticipation about what would happen next. Each member of the cast gave a wonderful performance (especially Sam Rockwell and Kyle Catlett), and I liked the way the movie used technology that wasn't around when the original Poltergeist came out in 1982 (drones, cell phones, GPS, etc.).  If you don't like clowns, you probably won't see this movie in the first place since there's a terrifying clown on the movie poster, but if you're planning on seeing it anyway, just be warned that there are a bunch of them in the movie (if I'm remembering correctly though, only one of them really does much). (Horror movies: making people hate clowns since 1990.) If I moved into a new home and found a box of creepy-ass clown dolls in the closet, I'd be tempted to burn the house down. ; )

My rating: 8.5/10

Horror Movie Month: Red State

Red State is a 2011 movie written and directed by Kevin Smith and starring Michael Angarano, Kyle Gallner, John Goodman, Michael Parks, Kerry Bishé , Nicholas Braun, Melissa Leo, Kevin Pollack, Stephen Root, Anna Gunn, and Matt Jones. When teenagers Travis (Michael Angarano), Jared (Kyle Gallner), and Billy Ray (Nicholas Braun) go to Cooper's Dell for sex with a woman Jared met online, she drugs them instead of giving them what they came for. They wake up in the Five Points Trinity "church," which is led by homophone/bonafide crazy person Abin Cooper (Michael Parks).

Not much scares me more than Westboro Baptist Church-like hatred and delusion (and in this case the crazies have assault weapons), so Red State is the scariest movie I've ever seen. All of the performances are great, and I like that the movie stars actors from some of my favorite TV shows (Newsradio, Veronica Mars, and Breaking Bad). Michael Parks sure knows how play a villain that might give me nightmares (he was also great as the villain in Kevin Smith's Tusk), and I'd rather be stalked by Michael Myers than spend five minutes with Abin Cooper and his brainwashed family/followers. ; )

My rating: 8/10

Movie Spotlight: Poltergeist (2015)

When I heard that a new Poltergeist movie was coming out this year, I knew I had to go see it and write about it for the blog. The trailer was pretty good, and I was sure I'd like it more than Poltergeist 2 and 3.  The 2015 version stars Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, Saxon Sharbino, Kyle Catlett, Kennedi Clements, Jared Harris, Jane Adams, Susan Heyward, and Nicholas Braun. This movie is about a different family than the one that was being tormented in the other Poltergeist movies, and I was glad that the little girl wasn't named Carol Anne in this one...after hearing that name more than 100 times in Poltergeist 3, I would be happy to never hear that name again. ; ) The Bowens are the ones being tormented this time around: father Eric (Sam Rockwell), mother Amy (Rosemarie DeWitt), teenage daughter Kendra (Saxon Sharbino), son Griffin (Kyle Catlett), and youngest daughter Madison (Kennedi Clements). When Madison is taken by evil spirits, the family must do everything in their power to bring her back, which includes enlisting the help of Carrigan Burke (Jared Harris), the host of a show called Haunted House Cleaners (note to networks: please make this a real show ASAP).

I'm not one of those irritating people who think that no movie should ever be remade and then spends way too much time complaining about it on the internet, so I really liked Poltergeist. I enjoyed every minute of it, and while I wouldn't necessarily say the movie scared me (the original didn't either), there were parts that really creeped me out, and I spent the whole movie feeling a sense of dread and anticipation about what would happen next. Each member of the cast gave a wonderful performance (especially Sam Rockwell and Kyle Catlett), and I liked the way the movie used technology that wasn't around when the original Poltergeist came out in 1982 (drones, cell phones, GPS, etc.).  If you don't like clowns, you probably won't see this movie in the first place since there's a terrifying clown on the movie poster, but if you're planning on seeing it anyway, just be warned that there are a bunch of them in the movie (if I'm remembering correctly though, only one of them really does much). (Horror movies: making people hate clowns since 1990.) If I moved into a new home and found a box of creepy-ass clown dolls in the closet, I'd be tempted to burn the house down. ; )

My rating: 8.5/10

http://www.foxmovies.com/movies/poltergeist