The All Hallows Eve List of Movies

I thought that since Halloween is just around the corner, I would write a list of some of the movies that may give you the frights for this October 31st.  But instead of just making a list, I realize that some people want their horror movies differently; some want gore, some want suspense, and some want the “jump out of your seat factor”.  In order to get a good preview of each of these movies, I have hyperlinked the trailer for each film onto its respective name in the article. Well, Ne’er you worry my loyal viewers, because I shall provide all with movies that they can enjoy for this October the 31st.

The Gore Lover:
While partially a person after my own heart, the gore lover is probably looking for a film with a lot of limbs being separated from bodies, and lucky for them, there are a few series that do just this! If you feel like delving further back 8 years or so, I think that the first three Saw movies offer up quite hefty levels of Gore while not getting too ridiculous (after about Saw 3, the traps just start getting dumb, and you can see that the directors are just trying to make the traps completely over the top).  Also, Eli Roth directed two films named Hostel and Hostel 2 that have become known as “gore-fests”, and luckily unlike Saw, Hostel knew when to stop.  Although I haven’t seen it, a more recent example of a gore-movie would be something along the lines of The Human Centipede: First Sequence. Although this movie is far from great, it will fulfill that strange line of grossness that Gore lovers usually tend to have.

The Suspense Lover:
If you as a viewer are more partial to story in your films (because let’s be honest here, Gore Films have about 3 plots that they mainly follow that usually run along the lines of “Girl(s) are in big city, drive out to country to go to party, car breaks down, must take refuge in foreign house but the owner of the house turns out TO BE CRAZY, then the rest of the movie is the girl(s) trying to escape”), then you may want a film that has more suspense.  A horror blog would not be complete if you didn’t mention the King of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock.  If you are a suspense fan, you can pretty much watch any of his movies and I can guarantee you that you wont be disappointed.  A movie that I have personally enjoyed that is very suspenseful of his is Psycho, and the sheer amount of suspense that Hitchcock creates in that movie is absolutely incredible.  Another by Hitchcock that has just as many suspenseful moments in it but manifests itself in a different way is North By Northwest, and although the name may not instantly ring bells for some, many would be able to recognize its iconic helicopter scene.

The Indie Horror Lover:
So you may like movies, but want to indulge in lesser known fare. Well you, my friends, no longer need to worry, because I have just the movies for you! While some could argue that the film Teeth could fit under the Gore category, it seems to have that indie sense about the way that it handles the horror that it brings.  It delves off the traditional horror plot, and talks about an incredibly dark idea that no movie had or has since even gotten close to mentioning. In fact, just thinking about the elements it mentions are enough to send a chill up my spine.  But moving on, many of you may remember indie starlet Ellen Page from her breakout role in 2007’s Juno or more recently the box office smash hitInception.  But one of her most impressive roles came 2 years before Juno, in the form of a movie entitled Hard Candy.  Much like Teeth, Hard Candy focuses on a very dark theme, and plays out in the way that indie fans will enjoy.

And there you go! Hopefully my list of some of my favorite Halloween titles has been informative, and that you have a ghoulishly fantastic October 31st.

American Psycho Review

Hello All!

I am back from an extended break to do what I enjoy the most, which is write about movies! Now since I haven’t had much time on my hands to go out and go to the theater (although I have been dying to see The Social Network), many of the films I have been watching have come courtesy of downloading online or my roommates Netflix.

Now American Psycho is in a different mold of many of the other movies in the fact that it stars a fairly unknown Christian Bale in what some could call his breakout role.  Bale plays a troubled (to put it lightly) businessman that is just skating through the life of an executive at a company, yet Bale hides the fact that in his spare time, he likes to murder people.  You know, some people like to hang out with friends, or ride bikes, but Patrick Bateman likes to kill.  Now one thing that is very impressive about this movie I thought was the use of contrasting colors. Even from the title screen, we are treated with a white background, with what looks like blood drops, slowly, but meaningfully, drip-dropping down.

One of my favorite ideas that was placed in the movie was the fact that we as the viewers could hear almost all of Bateman, whether he was speaking or whether it was in thought.  We could see what he held dear, what his mind focused on, and most importantly, we could get a personal connection with this man that really no other character could achieve.  This is an interesting technique used by relatively unknown director Mary Harron, and I am under the impression that almost no one besides Christian Bale would have been able to pull of Bateman’s character in this way.  Now whether or not you hate Christian Bale because of his attitude, you have to applaud the man for being one of, if not the most hard working actors of the past decade.  The sheer effort that he will put in in order to learn and succeed to the greatest degree at his parts is almost inhuman (look at the transition of him in The Machinist to his next movie, Batman Begins).  But the thing that I absolutely love the most about the way Bale portrays Bateman is the way that he delivers the lines so fluidly, so darkly comical, that its almost not as though you are watching a man acting as another man, but watching this fanatical, psychotic man go absolutely crazy.

There are two main scenes where Bale absolutely shines, and if you are on the fence about this movie, I would recommend that you seen these two scenes, and if you really enjoy them, then I can safely assure that you will enjoy the rest of this unusually dark comedy.  Without ruining too much, one involves two men at Bateman’s apartment with Huey Lewis and the News, and the other involves Bateman, two “female companions”, and a lot of Bateman looking at himself in the mirror.

Its really hard to describe exactly what American Psycho is completely.  One of its greatest strengths is that it rides the line of a “dark comedy” absolutely perfectly, because there are scenes that are incredibly dark, and the viewer can tell that something is going to happen that is going to be very bad, but the way that Bateman (which the more and more I type I realize looks more and more like Batman) delivers speech and dialogue leading up to these atrocious acts is no different from how he talks to his friends or co-workers.  Because of how hard it is to completely describe, giving a recommendation to it is also tough.  Personally, I think that it is an incredible movie, and the way that Harron directs and Bale acts are amazing, but the subjects that it brings up definitely warrant the dark portion of dark comedy, and it definitely lives up to its R-rating. Should you watch it? I personally think you should try it out, if only for the fact that you can see Christian Bale’s masterful performance as the haunting Patrick Bateman.

American Psycho: 5 out of 5