What I Watched, What You Watched #13

I promised you a fuller week of movie watching, and I delivered. Not only did I watch three films for review-you can read Birth of a Nation and 13^th here, and I’ll be posting The Accountant this Wednesday-but I watched six films on my own, with one on the way.

You see, last Saturday, I began the 31 Days of Horror Marathon: a new horror film a day throughout the month of October. I missed Friday due to falling asleep too early to watch (I like my horror films in compete darkness), but I managed to watch one a day otherwise, and I plan on catching up soon. I’ll be keeping a running tally at the bottom of each film this month, as well as an asterisk if I liked it or a number sign if I didn’t. I started the week with Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, a spoof of the hillbilly slasher, and I found it to be a funny, touching romp that turned an entire genre on its head. Unfortunately, my Monday night film, the critically lauded The Invitation, missed the cut. It had some big ideas, I just don’t think it executed them well. And the pace was soooooooo slow, for no reason. While I’m fine with a slow pace, this one never featured a payoff deserving of it. Knowing I needed something dumb and stupid to laugh at, I watched Devil, one of the worst horror films of all time. And it lived up to that title. I can’t even describe how dumb it is. You have to witness it for yourself. Wednesday, I went for another stupid horror film, but this one was intentionally so. Zombeavers is a short sendup to monster films, and it lives up to its name. At first glance, it’s too dumb to be taken seriously-with bad actors, bad writing, and bad effects, this should be a flop. However, it makes all the difference in the world knowing that the director is a comedian. That changes the entire meaning of the film, showing it to be intentionally bad, instead of just a failure. On Thursday, I watched A Nightmare on Elm Street for the first time. My takeaway is that Wes Craven is an excellent director, and the ideas behind it are excellent. Freddy Kruger is a great villain, both in design and performance by Robert Englund; however, when you really get down to things, Kruger is really bad at his job. He barely kills the teens he’s after, he’s defeated through some Home Alone nonsense…I mean, how is this guy scary? He gets defeated by a giant mallet to the nuts? Anyway, I digress. The final film I managed to squeeze in this week was Hellraiser. It’s well made, but I’m beginning to learn that I’m not too keen on the body horror genre. They’re incredibly well-designed, just not my cup of tea.

Television wise, I watched the general shows-Atlanta, You’re the Worst, the Wednesday Night ABC Comedy Lineup. Oh, and one other thing-I finally got around to watching Stranger Things. I have a longer piece on it coming, but damn. That is just excellent storytelling. It’s remarkable.

What about you? Did you watch anything this week? Anything good? Anything bad? Anything spooky? Let me know in the comments!

1. Hush ********
2. Tucker and Dale vs. Evil *
3. The Invitation #
4. Devil #
5. Zombeavers *
6. A Nightmare on Elm Street *
7. Hellraiser *#