Insidious (2011)

            Horror, as a genre, has grown tired. I hate to say that, but in 2011, one is hard pressed to find a horror film get a theatrical release without being a remake or a sequal. As I write this, Scream 4 is being prepped for it’s big release this weekend, don’t get me wrong though, I am excited about this. But to find an original horror film in a local movie theatre is something of an anomoly these days.

            So you can imagine my surprise when I learned that the writer/director team that created the original Saw film had made an entirely original haunted house flick that would be playing in my own town. Imagine my surprise even more when the reviews started telling me that it was a great throwback film to the horrors of years past. That was all I needed to hear in order for me to buy a ticket.

            The movie sets up in a very familiar fashion. A happily married couple move into a new house with their three children only to find that things are getting creepy at night. When their son has an accident up in the attic and falls into a coma-like state, they decide to pack up their things and move. It isn’t long after they move into their new home that they find that the same haunts have followed them there.

            Up until this point, the film has tread in territory that everyone has seen. At night, there are loud noises and the couple search the house for something they can never find. They see shadows on the wall, books seem out of place, and their front door gets blown open in the middle of the night. However, the way in which these scenes are crafted are incredibly unsettling and I found myself tensed up in a way that I haven’t been in a long time. My entire theatre was jumping and shrieking with each new scare and I was loving every second of it.

            Then the second half of the film kicks in and things get crazy. The couple calls on an old spiritualist for help, who tells them that their house isn’t haunted, it’s their son. His spirit is trapped in a realm called The Further and it has opened a portal to another realm that hosts evil spirits, one of which is a red-faced demon that is attempting to keep the boy in the Further forever. I don’t want to go into any more details about what happens here because it’s best to go into this movie cold and let it’s events capture you. Some people have been put off by the second half of this film, citing that it shows too much of the spirits in the Further and that it kills the suspense. I think it’s a blast and if you let yourself go with it, you’ll have a blast too.

            Whats great about this movie is that it takes a familiar set-up, makes you think you have it figured out, and then builds something entirely new and different ontop of it. It plays loving homage to one of my favorite horror films, Poltergeist, and then spins it on it’s head. The finale is so crazy that I was in awe of what was taking place in front of me. Big cheers to the final twist as well, my whole theatre screamed.

            This movie does all these things without showing hardly any onscreen blood or gore. Yes, the film is rated PG-13, but it doesn’t feel like one. It hasn’t been edited to death and butchered by studios to get this rating either. It feels genuine and will scare anyone, I promise.

            I’m writing this review because the horror community has to support films like this. We can gripe and complain all we want about how we hate sequals and remakes, but if we don’t support the few original horror films in the theatres, then we’ll continue to only get sequals and remakes. Support original horror and go see Insidious! You won’t regret it. 

-Dave

House (1977)

            First of all, I want to apologize for the lack of reviews, updates or anything really from us here at Highbrow Horror. You see, the week after Halloween is probably the most depressing week for us throughout the entire year. I call it the post-Halloween blues and I have had them particularly bad after such a full Halloween season. I don’t have an excuse to watch a horror film every day now and it just brings me down. I usually feel this way for two to three weeks after the big night and I was on schedule for just that until last night. You see, last night I was cured!
            I sat down with Jonah to watch a Japanese film from 1977 called House. I had heard all kinds of wonderful things about this movie. I had read glowing reviews saying that it was a whacked out bit of psychedelic horror/comedy that would crank the energy up to eleven with every passing second, that it was completely ridiculous, and the closest experience to doing drugs without doing drugs. Well, all of those things are right on the money. However, they don’t even come close to actually capturing the insanity that takes place in this movie.
            I’ll admit right now that I’m not going to be able to articulate what happens in this film or why you need to see it. I was tossing around the idea of watching it a second time before I wrote about it but I realized that a second viewing probably wouldn’t yield any further understanding either. I’ve seen it, it blew my mind, and now I’m trying to get you to see it. That’s probably as far as I’m going to get.
            The film is about a girl named Gorgeous and her six friends (Prof, Melody, Kung Fu, Mac, Sweet, and Fantasy) who travel to her aunt’s creepy old mansion in the country to spend their summer vacation. What they don’t know is that Gorgeous’ aunt is really an old spirit who feeds off of young girls who come to visit her. Items in the house (chopped wood, mattresses, pictures, and an old piano) all eat the girls one by one until the climax of the film when…well…I don’t wanna spoil it anymore. You just have to see it to believe it.
            Director Nobuhiko Obayashi has created a film that is all kinds of insane by using so many different camera tricks, colors, animation, film-within-film, split screens, crazy edits, and much much more. The movie started and ten minutes later I was trying to catch my breath and soak in everything that was happening. Visually, it looks like Suspiria on steroids, it has the feel/tone of The Evil Dead, and the energy/humor of a Three Stooges episode. Is all that possible in one movie? Of course it is! There are no limits to what House will do.
            One of the many things I love about this movie are the girl characters. Each one of them has a ridiculous name that relates to their character in some way. So, Gorgeous is stunningly beautiful, Prof is a genius, Melody plays the piano well, Mac is fat, Sweet is charming, Fantasy is a day dreamer, and Kung Fu knows kung fu really well. Of all of them, Kung Fu is my favorite. Anytime a door needs to be knocked down or someone is in trouble, she arrives on the scene and leaps all over the place in a hyper edited form with crazy kung fu music blaring. She’s a blast! Fantasy also has some hilarious day dream sequences as well, especially when she dreams of prince charming taking her away on his valiant steed right after she’s just seen her friend get eaten by a piano.
 Now, the thing to remember here is that this movie was meant to be fun. Yeah it’s about a haunted house that eats young girls, but it is not serious for a second and you shouldn’t take it that way for a second either. It is pure adrenaline that’s sole purpose is to entertain. And entertain it will. I should warn you that it is extremely different than anything you’ve ever seen before. The humor and visuals can be very off-putting during the first twenty minutes if you’re not into these kinds of films.  But if you are still reading this review then you are probably all about something bizarre like this.  
            Truthfully, I haven’t been this entertained by a movie in awhile. It’s a beautiful melting pot of art house, horror, comedy, and kung fu all steaming in a Japanese stew of awesomeness. Movies like this are the reason why I love the horror genre. Just when I think I’ve seen it all, something like House comes along and rocks my world. The Criterion Collection has released the film with beautiful packaging and tons of extras to boot. Get it on Amazon or come over to my house and watch it with me because I’m dying to see it again!  

-Dave

Halloween (1978)

            At last we arrive to the culmination of all things Hallows eve; John Carpenter’s Halloween. I want to say that this isn’t going to be so much of a review as it is going to be a all out declaration for how much I love this movie. By now, there is nothing I can say that hasn’t already been said about this brilliant film, all I can do is declare my love. So, here I go, it’s about to get mushy in here.

            If you have never watched Halloween on Halloween night then you have never experienced the holiday the way it should be. Everything about this movie harkens back to a simpler time when Halloween wasn’t so commercialized and kids really did trick or treat all over town. It reminds me of being little and my parents taking me to various neighborhoods all over town. I remember the neighborhoods were full of ghosts, ghouls, goblins, and witches parading through the streets with pumpkins full of candy. But I also remember having a repressed fear in the back of my head the whole time; what if one of these costumes was really hiding something evil? What is the boogey man was real?

            That is the essence of Carpenter’s film. Michael Myers is the embodiment of pure evil. He doesn’t have a face, other than that ultra-creepy mask, he doesn’t speak, and for this first film, he has no motive. His only goal in life is to murder and if you just stop and think about it for a second, that is truly terrifying. More than Jason Vorhees or Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers carries an air of menace about him that elevates him above every other slasher villain in history. The image of him simply standing on the street corner, watching silently, is so unnerving that I think about it every time I look out the windows at night. He does this thing where he fades into the darkness and it takes a few seconds to realize he is there, only moments later to fade out and disappear. I’ve never seen it done that well in any other film I’ve ever seen.

            To those of you who watch this film and call it “dated” or "cliché”, I would like to remind you that this is considered the first pure slasher film. John Carpenter did it first and he did it the best. Unlike the countless slasher films that came after Halloween, Carpenter chose to use very little onscreen blood and gore. In fact, I would consider it nearly bloodless. Instead, Carpenter makes use of lighting, shadows and camera angles to give us an eerie frame for the murders committed. He keeps Michael mostly in the shadows as well, only making himself seen right before he does someone in. This use of darkness, shadows, and how he uses the camera help create an atmosphere that is unknown to nearly 99% of the slasher films that came after it.

            Carpenter also created the classic score for the film. It is simple and redundant but highly affective. I love the sweeping shots of the neighborhoods streets with the fall leaves all over the ground as the score quietly ratchets up the tension as we watch. It is a testament to what music can do for a film.

            Top it all off with Jamie Lee Curtis (the first scream queen) as Laurie Strode and a blazing climactic showdown that ends up in Laurie’s closet and we have my favorite movie of the season. I’ve watched it every Halloween for a very long time and it puts a perfect cap on the season. It is essential for getting the most out of your holiday.

            This wraps up my picks for our Highbrowloween season. I hope that some of you who read this got to watch one of these films and caught on to some of the fun that we get from watching them. Halloween may soon be over, but it’s Halloween nearly 24/7 for Chris, Jonah and I. Stay tuned. 

-Dave

Poster by Micah Moseby.

The Evil Dead (1981)

            There are many great horror films you should watch around Halloween time. Here at Highbrow Horror, we’ve covered the meat and potatoes of what we consider great movie marathon material for this time of year. So what are the perfect elements of a worthy Halloween movie? Gore, goofy dialogue, demons, gore, Bruce Campbell, and a cabin in the woods. If you haven’t guessed it by now, I am speaking of the splat-stick masterpiece Evil Dead.
            As a young child I can recall going into the horror section at every video store I ventured into, and Evil Dead always seemed to stick out to me for some reason. It was probably that sweet movie cover. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the opportunity to watch the movie until much later. Actually, just about four years ago around this time of the year I bought it on a whim. The first time I watched it, I was in awe of what I saw. So much so that I went back and bought the other two films in the series to complete the trilogy. What is all the fuss with this movie you say? Well let’s sink our chainsaw into it!
            Five Michigan State students travel to an isolated cabin in the woods to have a weekend of fun. Shortly after arriving, one of the guys stumbles upon an old tape recorder in the basement, and the book of the dead. The whole group has a listen to the tape, and thumbs through the book of the dead. Bad idea. Sure enough before they know it they have released ancient demons and they have come to wreak havoc on the poor students in the cabin. It’s up to Ash to save the night and ultimately become a hero.
            Sam Raimi and company were forced to work within a small budget, much like their horror counterparts of the 80’s. They actually filmed a short called Within the Woods, which they used to go around to doctors and pitch their movie to see if they would be interested in investing. It ended up working well enough for them to finance Evil Dead. The film as a whole took about a year in a half to film due to time restraints. Filming would often be rough for actor Bruce Campbell who would be covered in corn syrup and coffee creamer on a nightly basis in the near freezing temperatures. After debuting at the Cannes Film Festival, it was picked up and released in theatres in 1981. 
            Evil Dead has gained a loyal cult following, and deservedly so. The gore is outrageous and there is so much blood its funny. The whole movie there is a demon locked in the cellar in the living room. She looks wicked and just stands there and says the funniest things to everyone. One by one everyone mostly turns into a demon, which Ash has to deal with in some way or another.  Don’t forget the notorious tree rape scene, although it’s not as bad as it sounds. There are a few creepy moments, but overall it is just a fun, bloody movie that never takes itself too seriously. Did I mention how much humor is in this thing?
            While the Halloween spirit is in the air, do yourself a favor and check out Evil Dead. It’s available for instant streaming on Netflix, and if you don’t have access to that, then it is more than likely available for rent or purchase in your town. Pick it up tonight and watch it with some friends. Such pretty skin, give it to us!


-Chris

Poster by Micah Moseby. 

The Shining (1980)

            I’d like to start off this entry with a confession: I will not be able to do this film justice.  I just can’t do it.  I’m sorry.  To convey the sheer brilliance of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining in a relatively brief blog post is a nearly impossible task, one that surpasses my abilities as a writer.  Nevertheless, I am going to give it my best shot.  Here we go.

            I remember the first time I saw The Shining.  It was October of 2002 and I was in the eighth grade.  Halloween was near and my friends and I were at the local Hollywood Video browsing through the horror section, looking for something scary.  We decided on The Shining.  None of us had seen it before and the sight of Jack Nicholson’s menacing grin on the cover of the display case had already gotten me nervous.  That night, we watched the DVD in a dark, empty house, illuminated only by the glow of the television set.  I didn’t blink once.  I’m not entirely sure how my friends felt about the movie.  Not much was said about it when it was over.  But I do know how I felt.  I remember it vividly.  Feelings of utter shock and terror put aside, I felt enlightened. 

            Being fourteen years old, I had a very primitive understanding on the concept of art.  I learned from social studies class that art could be found in paintings, classical music, and literature.  But after that first viewing of The Shining, I had discovered, first hand, that art exists in film.  I was born in the 80’s, so inevitably movies have always been a big part of my life.  Needless to say, this realization was a big deal for me.  From that point on, I raised my standards for cinema significantly.  In essence, The Shining made me into the pretentious movie snob that I am today and for that, I hold it in the upmost regard.

            Adapted from Stephen King’s novel of the same name, The Shining tells the story of Jack Torrance (played by Jack Nicholson), a writer who struggles with anger management issues.  Jack has been given a job as caretaker for the Overlook Hotel, an isolated lodge in the mountains that is inaccessible during the winter.  Jack, his wife, and his son (Wendy and Danny, respectively) are to occupy the empty hotel for the duration of the winter.  However, unbeknownst to Jack, the Overlook has a dark past.   This becomes evident to Danny almost immediately, thanks to the telepathic gifts he possesses.

            Director Stanley Kubrick is completely unforgiving in his effort to terrorize his audience with this movie.  In The Shining he creates a completely dehumanizing experience that grabs a hold of you immediately and refuses to let go, even after the credits roll.  Love interests and comic relief are nowhere to be found here.  As a cinematographer, Kubrick is unmatched in his ability to create visual tension.  Long, low-angle steadicam shots give the audience the uneasy impression that the characters are not alone as we follow them through the empty, maze-like halls of the hotel.  Recurring patterns in the wallpaper and carpet further lend us to the feeling that we’re falling down the rabbit hole.  Kubrick places his subjects in the dead center of the frame giving us perfectly symmetrical images, illuminated with practical lighting, leaving noting to the imagination.  Not once does Kubrick suggest that something could be lurking in the shadows.  Nor does he resort to cheap, loud jump-scares.   All of his disturbing imagery is right in front of you, starring you in the face, forcing you to accept what is happening.  Doubt and disbelief are luxuries that Kubrick leaves no room for.  Instead he offers only fear and shock in broad daylight.

            From a visual standpoint, The Shining is a complete success.  But if we continue to dig deeper into this film, we find more terror hidden below the surface narrative.  From the beginning of Stephen King’s novel, it is made very clear that The Shining is a supernatural ghost story taking place in a haunted hotel.  Yet for the film adaptation, Kubrick decides to tiptoe around this approach and aims for something much darker.  Jack, the film’s protagonist, is a recovering alcoholic whose past is just as dark as that of the Overlook.  His inner demons have possessed him longer than any lingering spirits in the hotel have.  While on the surface, Kubrick’s film appears to retain many supernatural elements, it can be argued that the terrors haunting the Torrance family are all psychologically based and result from their extreme isolation and inabilities to deal with their own dark family secrets.  The further Jack falls into madness, the harder I find it to believe that any external forces are influencing him.  It is worth noting that every time a ghost appears to Jack, he is in the presence of a mirror.  I believe that Kubrick found the premise of spirits tormenting an innocent family in a haunted hotel to be juvenile.  I also believe that he found a way to brilliantly sidestep this idea so subtly that he could manage to frighten people in a new way that would impact them even if they didn’t pick up on any subliminal cues.

            Well, there you have it.  I could write volumes on this movie, but I’ll restrain myself and leave you with this very bold statement: The Shining is the greatest horror movie ever made.  Disagree with me.  I don’t care.  You’re not going to change my mind.  That’s my position and I stand beside it unashamed.  If you haven’t seen The Shining I recommend you do so as soon as humanly possible.  I’m signing off now.  Happy Halloween, folks.

-Jonah

Poster by Micah Moseby.

The Exorcist (1973)

            Horror movies have been apart of my life ever since I was a little kid. I remember there was a store in Tulsa called Media Play that had all the classic Universal monster movies on VHS and my mom bought them all for me. I grew up watching the original Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Wolfman, and loved every second of it. In middle school and junior high, my friends and I would hold marathons where we would watch all the Friday the 13^th or Nightmare on Elm Street films in a row. I saw it all at a young age because nothing was off limits when it came to horror, except one film: William Friedkin’s The Exorcist.

            When mention was made of this film, my mom’s face would turn dead serious and she would forbid me to ever see it. She would tell me stories about her friends who saw it and then regretted every second of it. My uncle told me that there were images in the Exorcist that he wished he had seen because he can’t get them out of his head. Then, upon further research, I read about the outcry and shock the general public experienced when the film was released in 1973. People were fainting in their seats and walking out of the theatre early in shock. The Reverend Billy Graham would even claim that there were demonic forces actually living in the film print of the movie itself. So, with all this commotion about the film, I just had to watch it.

            I remember the night I finally watched it like it was yesterday. I was a freshman in high school and staying the night at my friend’s house when some other guy’s we knew brought the film over. I finally had a chance to watch it. When it was over, my friends and I had just sat through two of the most harrowing and intense hours of our lives and witnessed one of the greatest horror films ever made.

            Is it really necessary to give a plot summary for this one? The possession of Regan MacNeil by the devil himself is a story that sends shivers down the most hardened of horror aficionados’ spines. I think what is so terrifying about the whole situation is that this happened to an innocent little girl. Regan isn’t some slasher-pic bimbo running around half naked throughout the film. Instead she is a twelve-year-old girl who loves her mother and those close to her. She did nothing to deserve the awful things that happen to her throughout the film. So if it happened to her, could it possibly happen to us?

            Everything about this film is perfect. First of all, every single performance is spot on, especially that of Linda Blair, who plays the possessed girl Regan. Her performance isn’t so much an acting job as it is a physical transformation. Despite voice enhancement techniques and such, Linda Blair truly provides us with a chilling look at possession. Everything she does is so disturbing that I always have a hard time believing that a twelve year old girl actually did and said some of the abominations Regan yells.

            Jason Miller (Damien Karras, the priest working with Regan) also provides a great and nuanced performance as a man on the brink of losing his faith and challenged with something that can save it or bring him to his knees. And when Max von Sydow (Father Merrin) shows up to help with the exorcism at the films finale, he proves why he is one of the greatest actors around.

            There is a moment before the exorcism scene, when Father Karras is making his slow ascent up the stairs to Regan’s room. He comes to the door and cracks it just a bit so that some of the light comes piercing into the hallway. He turns his face to the side and you can see his breath as he shivers from the cold emanating from the room. Every time I see this scene I yell, “Don’t go in!” But he does and it leads to the horrific finale.

            During the exorcism, Regan levitates, shakes violently, calls out awful curses and abominations, her head spins around 360 degrees, and she vomits all over our two priests. It is probably the most harrowing scene I’ve ever watched in a film. It drains me emotionally to watch it. And when Father Karras finally realizes what he must do to save Regan, I nearly cry. It’s a powerful and incredible scene pulled off with expert precision by director William Friedkin. His direction throughout the film is taut and precise, constantly raising the feeling of claustrophobia to unbearable heights that puts knots in the viewer’s stomach. He utilizes every aspect of film technique to scare us, from wide and sweeping shots of chaos, to tight shots of horror, a score that screeches and rattles our teeth, and images that shock our senses. He is a master of his craft.

            To wrap things up, The Exorcist more than lives up to it’s hype. There isn’t a second of the film that feels dated or behind the times. It will still disturb and frighten the viewer unlike anything else. Watch it this Halloween and see what I’m talking about. 

-Dave

Poster by Micah Moseby.

A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)

            Whether you like it or not, Wes Craven is the master or horror. Or he is at least the most successful director horror has ever seen. No one has a better resume that he does. In the 1970’s, Craven was responsible for some of horror’s most shocking pieces. The Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes are two of the genre’s greatest that would much later be remade and achieve big box office success. However, it was in the 1980’s that Craven was finally crowned king with A Nightmare on Elm Street.

            I’ll assume everyone who has been alive for the last century is aware of the films plot, but for fun I shall sum it up. Nancy and her high school friends are being taunted in their dreams by a burnt, “knives for fingers” boogeyman. Once Nancy’s friends start to die off, she confronts an evil past and discovers who and what Fred Krueger is. First off, it is worth noting that Craven conceived the idea for this after reading a few newspaper articles on a young man dying in his sleep. Instead of playing up the “based on true events” gimmick, he decided to blur the lines between fantasy and reality to really toy with the audience.

 Another thing is that Nightmare came out after Halloween and Friday the 13^th. So at this time the slasher genre was alive and kicking into its prime. I think Craven did the smartest and best thing to set his film apart from the rest: give the killer a personality. See, that’s the thing a lot of slasher films lack. Up to that point, the axe-wielding killer just moped around destroying people. But Craven gave his villain the ability to speak, and I believe that is what makes Krueger quite possibly the best horror movie villain of all time. The movie was a huge box office and critical success. It was made with a modest budget of a little over a million and would earn twenty four million more domestically. It would spawn numerous sequels and become a storied franchise. The film was also Johnny Depp’s first starring role. Pretty crazy huh?

            So what else can I say about this film that hasn’t already been said or written about? There really isn’t a lot. The gore is great. The blood flows well a few times and it isn’t too campy or too serious. Freddy’s iconic look was done extremely well and may play a part to why he is practically the face of mainstream horror, right along with Jason Vorhees and Michael Meyers. After all these years, I personally consider this to be one of the top five best horror films of all time. It is absolutely timeless. The bottom line really is, if you haven’t seen this film for some unbelievable reason, please stop making excuses and go rent it. I’d steer away from the remake, as good as it is, it’s just not quite on par with the original. After all, this is one of the quintessential films for Halloween.

-Chris

Poster by Micah Moseby.