What I Watched, What You Watched #15

Welp, I’m calling it. I’m not going to finish this month fulfilling my promise of “31 Days of Horror.” If I’m lucky, it’ll be ending closer to 20, assuming that I binge over the next day or two. Other than that, I also managed to see American Pastoral for review, which you can read here. And while that one review is fine, I’m more excited for the next few weeks, which will feature more Oscar contenders and #1 films. It’s a great time to be alive.

I only watched one non-horror movie this week: Fahrenheit 9/11. With Michael Moore everywhere in the news right now, I decided I’d give one of his three most famous films a shot. I mean, I liked Bowling for Columbine, so maybe I’d like this one. Not sound logic on my part, I admit. It was infinitely more smug than his previous efforts, and his facts were either severely flawed or basic logic, which is surprising, because his research is usually more solid than that. At any rate, I hated this movie, and think it was a wasted documentary. Stick to Columbine.

As for straight horror films, I managed to get in a few. Child’s Play kicked off my week in the most entertaining way possible. It is really two horror films in one: a psychological thriller, making you question if the inanimate object is really alive or not focused on true scares, and a campy horror flick where the villain is the king of one-liners and cheesy dialogue. Both are great formats, but do not work well together at all, making for one strange film, and one odd but memorable villain in Chucky. I followed this up with Re-Animator, which is a highly disturbing, yet surprisingly entertaining body horror flick. While it’s more disturbing than Hellraiser in some ways, some of the cheesiness makes it a lot more palatable. Finally, I watched V/H/S, which is an interesting anthology exploring both the found footage genre and the exploitation of women. It veers towards offensive and sexist frequently; but due to the intelligence of Adam Wingard, Joe Swanberg, and others, it’s just smart enough to make it clear that this chauvinism and misogyny is the source of the asshole-ish males’ eventual misfortune. I don’t know if I loved the film, but it’s an interesting experiment, and I applaud them for it. Oh, and I caught some of Halloween on TV. God, that’s a great film.

On television, I watched the usual-The Middle, the Halloween lineup of ABC shows, and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, each one great in their own way. I specifically appreciated a Batman gag during this week’s Modern Family. It made me laugh.

What about you? Watch anything great this week? Any good horror movies for Halloween? Did you follow my suggestions on the list of Ten Greatest Horror Films? 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 *#
8. Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn *
9. The Wicker Man #
10. The Strangers #
11. Sleepaway Camp *#
12. Stephen King’s Children of the Corn *
13. Dreamcatcher *
14. Child’s Play *
15. Re-Animator *
16. V/H/S *

*=Must-Watch
#=Skip It