Quinn Lord as Sam Dylan Baker as Principal Wilkins Anna Paquin as Laurie Brian Cox as Mr.Kreeg Samm Todd as Rhonda Leslie Bibb as Emma
Release Date
2007
Language(s)
English
Running Time
82 minutes
Trick R’Treat has been my go-to Halloween movie since I first saw it back in the early periods of high school. Since that first watch through, I’ve seen it once a year every year always on the 1st of October to get myself amped up for the rest of the month. No other movie so perfectly manages to capture the quintessential aspects of Halloween while telling them in a way that makes full use of every trick or treat in the book. This is a movie that’s simultaneously heartwarming, hilarious, and horrifying all while staying true to the spirit of the holiday.
This is majorly due to the ingenious script and direction by Michael Dougherty, who somehow managed to create an anthology movie that makes full use of all its parts and sub-stories to create a one-of-a-kind narrative that constantly keeps you on your toes. That’s right – this is an anthology movie that actually works as a cohesive narrative despite lacking any “real protagonist”. The movie starts off with a small instructional video tape that quickly warns its supposed audience to follow the rules of the Halloween before cutting to the “real” story.
Safety video starting slide
It’s a short and quick reminder to the audience – the rules are important and the rules determine everything. The rest of the movie is just a warning for those foolish enough to not heed the easy-to-follow instructions, which thankfully for the audience, happens to be the majority of the characters we follow.
The first sub-plot in the movie makes it clear that the penalty for not following rules is death before cleverly using a match-cut from the mangled corpse to a comic book strip depicting the events up till then.
Emma’s (Leslie Bibb) death in comic strip form. A retelling of the events up till the moment.
The transition is effective not only because of how seamless it feels but because of what it reveals of the story to come – a seemingly disconnected series of events whose relation will only become clear as time goes on. As this comic montage plays out, key clues are given for each of the sub-plots to come. It’s intriguing as a first-time viewer, but it also demonstrates just how much planning went into planning each storyline to multiple-time viewers. The invocation of the transmedia narrative seeps into these early moments of Trick R’Treat and gives the piece a distinctive flair.
Every single detail from the miniscule background characters to random noises gets explored as different seemingly unrelated storylines intersect with one another. What seems to be an innocuous clearly turns out to be lethal, while what seems to be deadly turned out to be nothing to worry about. By making constant reference to and use of both horror cliches and the customs of Halloween, the movie manages to constantly subvert audience expectations in ways that feel earned and clever. Never once did I see a reveal in the movie and think it came out of nowhere. The more I watch the movie, the more I realize just how many breadcrumbs Doughtery leaves the audience to piece together some of the nastier reveals before they actually happen. The movie is told more poetically than it is linearly but the way the timeline is revealed and explored both internally makes sense and externally leads to the biggest “Eureka” moments. The moment you think you’ve got the twist another one completely flips what you thought on its head and it’s genuinely delightful watching it all come together.
What keeps all the incongruous elements in harmony with each other is the protagonist-of-sorts, Sam (short for Samhain- very clever). The child like creature with the dopy straw mask doesn’t seem like a lot, but the moment someone breaks a rule of the holiday you’ll understand that just because it looks cute doesn’t mean it won’t murder you in the most horrifying way possible. The way the movie uses dissolve transitions between jack-o-lanterns or the blood red moon back and to Sam augment his presence as omnipotent and omnipresent.
Dissolve transition showing how Sam becomes the blood red moon watching over the town.
He literally is the spirit of Halloween watching over all and ensuring that the customs are being followed. The best part of his characterization is the balance struck between making him a terror and childlike. You’ll go from smiling at his presence to going “Oh God, that’s why you don’t break the rules.” Never once does he feel malicious and the movie exemplifies this with some key moments during the climax. It’s the reason why Sam has endured so long as a symbol of the holiday (and why I so badly want a sequel by Dougherty to come out). He’s just one of the best horror characters to come out this side of the 21st century.
On a technical level – the movie knocks all the gory details out of the park. There’s plenty of blood, dismemberment, supernatural creatures, and a healthy amount of bodily fluids to go around. You like a good dead body display? Got it. Want to see some supernatural shenanigans with body parts moving around by themselves? Also, here. Need to see some monster transformations? Why didn’t you say so sooner? The way the effects all come together make the movie feel like horror movie grab bag of fun effects and neat executions – all of which are just as much fun to see as the ones coming before and after them. There’s not a single scene of violence which isn’t fun to watch, not only because the characters have it “coming to them” for breaking the rules, but because the movie gives us more than enough reason to actively want these characters to suffer. The best part? Outside of an early scene involving a lot of vomit, no scene feels gratuitous to the point of feeling like torture porn. Nor does any scene feel like it pulls its punches. It all just works right.
If I had an issue with the movie, it’s that all the separate sub-plots fit a bit too neatly into one another. It seems like a nitpick, and at some level it is, but as characters and story events are brought to light they come off feeling more like ways to tie everything together than organic revelations. It’s at these moments that I wish the movie pushed more heavily into the transmedia elements set up at the start of the movie, because the constant reference back to each story being a story in a graphic novel series of sorts would add some additional cohesion. If more bits and pieces of characters’ backstories were revealed in these moments, then the later reveals would feel earned and clever as opposed to just the latter. Is this a huge issue? Not at all. Honestly, the fact that all these elements fit together is proof enough of the talent that went into both the script and the editing process. Someone who said these criticisms are a non-issue wouldn’t get any protest from me, because there’s still no movie out there that better encapsulates the spirits and traditions of Halloween.
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TLDR
If you’re looking for a fun movie to get your Halloween started look no further. Trick R’ Treat is every Halloween fan’s nightmare come to life. From the immaculate narrative construction to the transmedia presentation this is a movie that should delight casual fans while giving horror fans more than enough to sink their teeth into. If you haven’t seen the movie go ahead and give it a watch. If you’ve already seen it and didn’t think it was for you, give it another whirl and look at the way all the plots are set-up to build into/lead into one another. Who knows? You might find something you missed out on before.
Rating
9.6/10
Grade
A+
Go to Page 2 for the spoiler discussion. Go to Page 3 to view this review’s progress report .
Katie Featherston as Katie Micah Sloat as Micah Mark Fredrichs as Dr. Fredrichs
Release Date
2007
Language(s)
English
Running Time
86 minutes
The original Paranormal Activity is so well put together and concise as a found footage horror movie that it boggles me how bad the franchise has been afterwards. This first movie, I think, is the best found footage movie since the Blair Witch Project because it manages to capture a lot of the same feelings while presenting the material in way that takes into account suburbia as opposed to some creepy woods. The acting is more than adequate, the scares are punctuated by amounts of silence that make every creak and bump that much louder, and the special effects are surprisingly effective. Most importantly, the dynamic between the lead characters makes the underlying haunting interesting and the way the movie intertwines their relationship with the supernatural unfolding is what gives this movie staying strength as opposed to the awful sequels it spawned.
The movie follows Micah and Katie, a couple that’s recently moved to a new house . The latter is being followed by a supernatural presence so her boyfriend decides to tape their everyday life in hope of acquiring some evidence. Things start off slowly with long stretches of the movie just being time lapse shots of nothing happening in the background or dialogue scenes between the main couple. However, once the movie hits a certain point things start getting less tame. Things starts off with creaks and objects being dropped. The sound design is on point so every one of these little moment feels pungent. The supernatural phenomenon becomes more severe as time goes on and follows a logic; the malevolent presence feeds and grows off negative energy. When do things get worse in the house? You guessed it. Whenever tensions flare up between Micah and Katie.
That brings us to the most important aspect of the movie- Micah and Katie’s relationship. From the first moment the audience is introduced to the couple it’s clear to notice the power dynamic is Micah favored. He makes the big bucks. He owns the house. He can buy a high quality digital camera with no second worries. Katie’s immediate response to seeing the camera and realizing the extents to which her boyfriend wants to go to record the supernatural reveals that she wasn’t expecting it. It’s implied that Micah probably described the recording situation as being smaller than he intended on making . It’s an early enough sign of how he views their relationship but the movie slowly brings those imbalances to the light.
Micah starts off a skeptic and counterbalance to Katie’s fervent belief that she’s being haunted. He constantly challenges and undermines her belief in her own scenario . For example, during Dr. Friedrich’s visit he acts in a mocking and derisive manner. However, when he comes to the realization something is afoot his immediate response is to get more excited. He’s happy that the supernatural exists because it means he can record it and get recognition for it. The narcissism and selfishness that seemed a minor issue at the beginning of the movie transforms into something more sinister as he takes delight in the supernatural as opposed to sympathetic for his girlfriend’s plight. There’s one moment in particular where he researches demons to give Katie advice while in the same breath chastising Friedrich, a psychic consultant Katie called in earlier, for not knowing enough. Reading a book doesn’t give more authority than an expert in the field because presumably the book was written by someone similar. Prioritizing one form of knowledge over another is nonsensical absent an non arbitrary reason. But for a narcissist, the fact that the discovery of the situation came from “him” as opposed to another source is reason enough. Friedrich wasn’t picked by Micah so obviously his advice isn’t adequate.
Katie starts off being more accommodating of Micah’s behavior because she’s used to it. There’s a level of autonomy she knows shes going to lose but the safety she feels matters more to her given how terrified she is of her haunting. As Micah prods the supernatural he prods her which makes the supernatural more intense because it’s all predicated on her emotions. In this way the supernatural just becomes a representation for the state of Katie’s emotional vulnerability and sense of self. The external conflict (supernatural occurrences) is tied to the internal conflict (Katie’s fight for respect) and watching the way those planes inform one another definitely made me appreciate the ending a lot more.
However, there are a lot of moving parts and random bits of exposition that are dumped throughout that feel a bit hastily put together. I think the movie would have benefited from giving the audience more information on Micah and Katie’s dynamic before moving in together. For as much as I enjoy Micah’s characters and portrayal, the way his character behaves near latter portions of the movie gets a bit absurd. He feels too one-note asshole. If the movie had developed one of its earlier mentioned threads about how Katie never let him know about her demonic issues before moving in and the audience could see his character become more controlling as a result, then the subsequent unraveling of the relationship dynamic would become more complex. Micah would certainly come off as more as sympathetic and the relationship more interesting.
Furthermore, the way the haunting unravels is pretty arbitrary. As Katie sets up early on she’s had bouts with this presence since a young age. It just comes whenever it wants. That’s movie speak for whenever the story needs a convenient spook or doesn’t want to explain a dynamic it can go with “the demon decided now was the time to strike” as reason enough. The idea isn’t abused maliciously in the movie, but I think tying it down to Katie’s emotional state and personal history would have given the story more of a meaningful kick.
In terms of being scary, this movie is quite effective if viewed in the right frame of mind. The low budget nature of the camera matches well with the visual scares. Nothing feels out of place and some of the visual effects are quite impressive. There’s one scene involving fire near the midway point of the movie that freaked me out when the movie first came out because I couldn’t conceive of how it could look so real. This is a movie that understands that scares have to be built up to and blowing the load on some lame jump scare would only make the eventual finale that much less interesting. The slow burn approach gives the movie a level of intensity that’s rare in mainstream horror. Sound is used quite well. In particular, there’s a droning noise that comes on during night sequences that’s tied to the presence of the supernatural. It’s just loud enough to make you aware that something has changed but not so loud as to take away from the scene. It’s used to create an uncomfortable atmosphere and prime you to be uneasy. This way the loud scares that follow after feel far more terrifying. Both the visual and audio elements always build off one another and the way the final sequence unravels is satisfying from a narrative and visceral perspective. It’s loud, poetic, and definitely deserved.
It’s a shame the franchise never made use of these elements effectively again. I can only hope the soon to be 7th entry in the franchise returns back to the series roots – great atmosphere, contextual scares, and interesting character dynamics. All the elements are there. Just put them back together again. Until then, I’ll continue sticking to this first entry. It’s one of the better horrors of the 2000’s for a reason.
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TLDR
Paranormal Activity is a horror movie that takes it all back to the basics of making the audience scares. It’s low budget camera and effects work is more than effective and the way the haunting builds and develops is satisfying and most importantly, frightening. If you’re someone who’s only seen the sequels do yourself a favor and watch the original.
Rating
9.0/10
Grade
A
Go to Page 2 to view this review’s progress report
Justin Long as Darry Jenner Gina Philips as Trish Jenner Jonathan Breck as The Creeper Patricia Belcher as Jezelle
Release Date
2001
Language(s)
English
Running Time
91 minutes
The movie opens on a pair of siblings, Darry and Trish, on their way back home from college until they’re almost rear ended and run off the road by a dangerous and aggressive driver who ensures both the siblings and the audience understand just how loud truck horn can blare. After barely surviving the experience, who else would the duo run into other than the driver who almost turned them into pancakes dumping a suspicious cadaver shaped bag down a pipe? After the pair investigates the scene and uncover secrets they should have never stumbled upon, they find themselves under hot pursuit by an assailant that they haven’t even begun to comprehend.
Usually, when a horror movie starts off with something awful happening to a character/characters it’s hard to start off caring because no investment has been made. These introductory scares are usually just done to set up some stakes and tease the audience for what’s to come. Almost like a promise from the director that things will get bonkers so the audience maintains enough focus to care about the beginning of the movie (coughs aggressively in Evil Dead) . Jeepers Creepers on the other hand, spends its first few moments introducing us to the Jenner siblings, our primary points of contact and concern. I could immediately sense their dynamic based on the way they talked, emoted, and bickered with one another. In just 5 minutes , I felt intimately aware of the pair’s history and sympathized with them which is great because it was precisely at this moment when shit hit the fan. Cue maniac truck driver, truck, and blaring horns.
Normally a blaring horn jump scare would have me up in arms, but in this case it was executed so well I couldn’t help but appreciate it. I was so enthralled by Darry and Trish’s conversation up to that point that I didn’t notice the truck slowly creeping behind them until the horn burst through. Normally such a sequence would only be scary in the immediate moment, but because the movie employs iteration on its scares so effectively I was captivated the whole time. The scene constantly cut to the character’s freaking out over the truck ,talking about it, and then back to the truck proper so I was constantly reminded and made aware of the stakes, scares, and their relation to one another.
This interplay between dialogue, scare, dialogue about scare, and then back again is the rhythm the movie employs as it moves along. Sometimes there are more characters involved than just Darry and Trish, but the basic movement stays the same. This is why the first two acts flow so well and feel so fluid. The characters are always present alongside the scare, each part giving the other more of an impact. Experiencing the scares as an event and then understanding the way they impact the characters gives each horrifying moment a depth that’s missing a lot of the time. Likewise, the constant dialogue gives an nuanced look at the motivations,drives, and thought process of the characters which helps getting past some of their more questionable decisions and fully behind their better ones. It’s only in the third act, when the movie moves away from to more generic conventions like scares with unknown characters that aren’t involved with Darry and Trish or generic set-pieces that the pace ever feels bogged down. Thankfully, these moments are few and they only happen in one section of the movie so you can ignore them for the most part.
Good horror operates by the rule of “don’t show the monster” which boils down to only reveal the antagonist when the story calls for it and only the what’s necessary. Ambiguity is what makes situations scary because audiences can’t hide in their certainties any try and “rationalize” the fear away. The audience should always be questioning exactly who or what they’re dealing with until just the right moment. If a reveal is done too early, there’s no tension. If it’s done too late, no one cares anymore. Jeepers Creepers manages to toe this line just right. The identity of the “creeper” is slowly revealed as the movie proceeds but no revelation ever gives any information that removes the ambiguity of the menace. Each revelation only makes them seem more sinister and overwhelming without ever discounting what came before. There are a few moments that are played out a bit too long and come off as unintentionally comedic as a result, but the bursts of laughter are replaced by terror soon enough.
On the topic of revelation, the movie excels in using perspective, both knowledge-based and positional, to its advantage. There are multiple clever scares that keep focus in on the foreground while something ominous encroaches in the background. You’re not aware of the reveal until it’s already about to happen so every scare feels unique and more importantly, deserved. I love the use of signs and license plates to convey double meanings and reinforce power relations. Early on Darry and Trish play a game involving deciphering license plates and what they actually mean giving each other points for correct deductions. In reality the game is more for us, the audience, to get us to read signs in multiple ways. Throughout the movie, signs are introduced in a “conventional” way and then either through new information or a change in camera position come to stand for something completely different. For example, when Darry and Trish drive into a church, the camera moves from them all the way to a cross on the top of the church looking back down. From the new point of view, the siblings feel smaller and less in control of their fate. The cross , adorned with crows, foreshadows that their path will be fraught with something opposite of divine. Moments like these reveal just how much care and effort went into every detail. There’s always another meaning.
Now I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention what a great job the cast did. Long and Phillips are the heart of the movie and if their relationship didn’t come off as lived in and genuine, I don’t know how many of the scare sequences would work. There are quite a few moments where a lesser actor would’ve evaporated the tension by making things too funny. For example ,one scene involves Long reacting to having his underwear stolen and being despondent in response. No one should be able to pull it off, but Long does and highlights just how scared his character is. By the end of the movie I really felt for the characters and what they went through. Additionally, as good as Long and Phillips are at conveying fear, Breck is even better at generating it. The way he holds himself up as the “Creeper” gives the assailant a menacing and intimidating aura. He somehow manages to exude charisma while projecting unstoppable evil.I would go more in detail but I think that spoils a lot of the fun.
I know it seems like I’ve heaped on a lot of praise, but I think this is a movie that is seriously discounted (especially at the time of release) except by genre fans. Sure, there are a few plot details that raise some questions about the logistics of the situation. Sometimes the practical effects feel a bit dated . There are some CGI effects that don’t pan out all that great. But those issues can all be overlooked when the story and characters are as captivating and developed this. And talk about that ending. I haven’t been able to listen to this song since my first complete watch through without trembling a bit .
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TLDR
Jeepers Creepers is one of the best horrors of the 2000’s for good reason. The story is well-paced, the characters are interesting and well developed, the art direction is macabre and unsettling, and the antagonist is wholly unique and interesting. If anything, I think the effectiveness of the ending justifies at least a watch through.
Rating
9.2/10
Grade
A
Go to Page 2 for the spoiler discussion. Go to Page 3 to view this review’s progress report .
Megan Fox as Jennifer Amanda Seyfried as Needy Johny Simmons as Chip
Release Date
2009
Language(s)
English
Running Time
102 minutes
When this movie first came out over a decade ago, I thought it was going to be some schlocky exploitative film based on the advertising. Watching the movie proved to be a completely different experience and I remember feeling pretty satisfied with what I saw. As you can imagine I was shocked when I saw the low Rotten Tomatoes score. Thankfully, after a recent re-watch, I’m proud to say my love for the movie has only appreciated over the years and I’m confident that if it came out today, it’d probably end up doing great. At least I hope it would. If anything this is more proof that the Tomato Meter only matters if you let it matter.
Needy, a reticent nerd, realizes that her super popular BFF, Jennifer, has transformed into a man-eating succubus, and desperately tries to stop her carnivorous ways. The movie picks up on Needy in a mental institution, explaining the events of Jennifer’s possession and her subsequent rampage. This framing mechanism gives the story a sense of mystery and allows for some fun “breaking the 4th wall” moments. Needy is so bad ass and resolute in this “current” timeline and so reserved and shy in the story she narrates. You want to why and she tells you in an incredibly entertaining way. The way the framing mechanism bookends certain moments makes it clear the story is focused on Needy’s journey, not her destination. Once the movie “ends” you appreciate the way the whole story was structured a lot more.
Despite being a horror movie and containing some genuinely chilling moments to experience and think about, the movie stands in out in just how funny it is. Yes, there’s a few moments where the humor and horror clash, but I think for the most part the two elements accentuate one another. The movie has a good blend of parodies of cliched young adult humor and some genuinely dark humor with a distinct feminist blend. I found myself laughing at the more obvious jokes while appreciating the more subtle-not-so-subtle social commentary.
The idea of stopping a succubus isn’t new, but the movie mainly utilizes its supernatural aspect to navigate a litany of (especially at the time of the movie’s release) unexplored ideas as opposed to just playing it cool as a creature feature. Somehow the story explores toxicity in relationships, the way women are stripped of agency and forced to play disparate social roles, and the way tragedy is exploited. The small town setting is taken full advantage of to make these ideas even more pronounced.
Fox kills it as the lead. She feels like a caricature of what people actually thought/think about her and nails the air-headed, egotistical, narcissistic pretty girl archetype. After her transformation into bloodthirsty succubus, she manages to ramp her annoying qualities up a notch which lends to some genuinely funny moments. Seyfried is great as the nerdy shy friend who’s slowly forced into becoming more proactive as things get more and more out of control. The energy they give off is infectious and jumps off the screen.
At a surface level, the two have almost nothing in common with the former acting in service of the latter since their childhood. It’s a relatable relationship dynamic that I haven’t seen explored a lot, let alone in such depth and nuance. They may be “BFFs”, but as the film progresses the parameters of what that relationship really means and entails become clear, faults and all. The romantic tension between them is also teased and stretched in ways that not only feels well justified thematically but feels natural and for the most part non-exploitative. Their respective interactions juxtaposed with the almost nonchalant indifference Jennifer treats her victims with gives you a lot to think about and does a good job humanizing our monster in disguise. Yes, there’s a few sexually charged scenes, but the movie’s focus is on the relationship underneath the physical exchange, not the exchange itself.
While I love how Needy and Jennifer’s relationship is explored, certain supernatural elements of it feel unjustified/contrived. These moments feel like they exist just to create certain confrontations to push the story forward as opposed to naturally occurring plot events. Additionally, some side characters feel a bit too comical and one-note, so they stand out in contrast to the more well realized main characters. These problems never de
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TLDR
Jennifer’s Body tells the story of a girl desperate to stop her former best friend turned succubus from terrorizing the men of their small town. Somehow this highly slept on blend of horror, comedy, and dark humor manages to be even more socially relevant today than back in 2009 when it was released. Don’t let the trailers fool you. There’s more than meets the eye in this unapologetically fun movie.
Rating
9.1/10
Grade
A
Go to Page 2 for the spoiler discussion. Go to Page 3 to view this review’s progress report .
Raven-Symoné as Galleria Adrienne Bailon as Chanel Kiely Williams as Aqua Sabrina Bryan as Do Belinda as Marisol
Release Date
2006
Language
English
Running Time
97 minutes
When you watch one you gotta watch em all- once my sister and I had watched the original movie, I knew we had opened Pandora’s Box. Within a few days we were back at again with the sequel. Thankfully, Kenny Ortega takes all the elements that were enjoyable from the first movie and amps them up to the next level. The musical moments are shot better, each of the “Cheetahs” is given more to do, and there’s a more coherent plot which gives the movie more of a punch.
The plot follows the Cheetah Girls 3 years after the events of the first movie. The girls crash Chanel mothers romantic getaway to Barcelona in an attempt to win a music festival competition. After promising to do their best, the girls embark on their new journey. Each of the characters feels more defined- everyone from Galleria to Aqua gets their own storyline – no matter how on the wayside it feels. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the overall character arc the group goes through. The “Cheetahs” feel fairly similar to their previous incarnation in the last movie except Galleria is less bossy. I wish I saw some growth between the girls proper but everything related to the same feels tacked on or hammy.
Like the last movie- the songs are the best part. Thankfully, they’re shot well and aren’t jumbled and messy like the last movie. I could feel myself actually singing along (as corny as the lyrics were), but this time I could actually look at the screen without being forced to dart my eyes around needlessly.
While the plot makes far more sense than the last movie – it’s still Disney TV movie which means there’s more than one moment that will make you scratch your head. This problem becomes even more prevalent in the 3rd act when everyone acts a lot less intelligent than they really are. There are also some rushed moments and I feel like a more developed 3rd act could’ve given the last musical number more depth.
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TLDR
The Cheetah Girls 2 is fun and filled with bops to nod your head along to. The plot and characterization leaves a lot to be desired, but it’s a jam packed adventure the whole way through. It brings in all the stuff you loved from the last movie with a more cohesive story and better shot musical moments. If you didn’t like the first one, chances are good you won’t find anything here either.
Rating
6.0/10
Grade
D
Go to Page 2 to view this review’s progress report .
Raven-Symonéas Galleria Adrienne Bailon as Chanel Kiely Williams as Aqua Sabrina Bryan as Do
Release Date
2003
Language(s)
English
Running Time
93 minutes
Oh Disney Plus, you nostalgia machine. I only bought the service because of Star Wars – baby Yoda was too cute to resist and since I started the journey in November, I’ve been swept up in Star Wars fever. Buying Disney Plus felt like a must the moment I started The Clone Wars (2008) ( look forward to a review of the first six seasons soon). Thankfully, along with the Star Wars goodness, the service is filled with movies I remember watching by myself or with my sister when we were much younger- good old nostalgic times. When I saw The Cheetah Girls pop up while scrolling, I knew I had to watch it – it was one of my favorite Disney-to-TV movies and I wanted to see how much I would like it over a decade later . Even now, this movie entertains. It has great bops, some cute moments, and an utterly ridiculous plot that’ll have you laughing with friends. This is by no means a good movie- but it is a fun one.
The plot follows the titular Cheetah Girls- a group of four high school kids trying to make it big as musicians while living their own Cheetah Way. Raven plays Galleria, the self appointed leader of the group. Chanel, Aqua , and Dorinda fill out the group, each bringing and adding a different element to the musical group. Acting between the girls feels odd at times (though mostly fine) and makes the relationship feel out of place. This impacts tense moments and undercuts a lot of the potential emotional moments. There are still some heartwarming moments but their overall impact falls short of where they could be. One thing I did appreciate about the film was that every girl (sans Aqua) gets a real moment of growth or emotion that feels semi-earned. In a movie as chaotic as this- that’s a huge deal. I wish it was just more applied and followed through on.
The best part of the movie is obviously the songs. As my sister reminded me, “Cinderella” is a bop and I wholeheartedly agree. It’s surprising how catchy some of these songs still are. The over the top elements add to the corny fun of the whole thing, so I was genuinely enthralled by the experience. The only issue is how poorly edited the music videos are. The camera never properly focuses and jumps a lot. Thankfully, these issues don’t plague the final number too much but it really took me out of the earlier two songs.
What the movie lacks in subtlety it makes up in sheer absurdity. Things in the movie just happen out of nowhere and it proceeds at a breakneck pace. In particular, the third act is just a series of events that are more and more ridiculous. I couldn’t stop laughing at how everyone came together. Granted, the last song and the number are great but it literally makes the whole movie feel like some strange joke. It’s a great, entertaining joke to be sure. It’s hilariously bad in the best way.
There’s some decent buildup for some of the characters but the overarching story of the whole group feels haphazard and out of place. The film doesn’t do a great job at establishing why the girls are together or why they care so much about each other outside of just exhibiting cheetah-ness??I think? So when conflict comes up, it’s hard to understand how the dynamic should be playing out besides the basic way the movie presents itself in. Add on to this to the heavy handedness of certain character traits and absurd resolution of the groups tensions and you have a strangely unsatisfying story that’s fun enough to sit through.
REPORT CARD
TLDR
The Cheetah Girls is a fun ridiculous time. The music is fun, the energy is great, and there’s more than one moment of pure comedic absurdity. If you liked the movie growing up chances are it’s infectious energy will get to you even now, even if you cringe at the plot.
Rating
5.7/10
Grade
F
Go to Page 2 to view this review’s progress report .
Hayden Christensen as Anakin Natalie Portman as Padme Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu Frank Oz as Yoda
Release Date
2005
Language(s)
English
Running Time
140 minutes
This movie is my favorite Star Wars movie out of the original trilogy and the prequels. Does it have its flaws? Yes. Is it a cinematic masterpiece in the same vein as Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back? No – there are some acting issues, strange lines, and wonky visuals. In spite of that, this is, in my opinion, the best movie. George Lucas’s brilliance and vision for the tragedy of Darth Vader comes to full fruition in this emotionally intense tragedy and it’s genuinely beautiful and devastating.
The plot picks up some time after the end of end of Episode II- Palpatine has been kidnapped by General Grievous and we jump into Anakin and Obi-Wan trying to rescue him. The moment the film starts the action kicks off. We go from a great chase scene, to a frantic air battle involving my favorite little droid, into an series of epic battles. This film redeems the disappointing battles of the last movie and then some. The action is on point and features some of the best moments from the entire franchise. There are FOUR amazing light saber/force fights that are really fun to watch ( even if some of them are shorter than I wanted). I couldn’t believe my mind that we got to see this many duels. Two of these fights are so spectacular that I literally had to pause and go re-watch scenes because of how amazing the choreography and intensity felt. Even R2-D2 gets to fight MULTIPLE TIMES in the film and it shows a real sense of creativity and fun.
Acting in this film is also leaps and bounds better than the previous two installments in the prequel trilogy. Ewan McGregor gives Obi-Wan Kenobi some much needed emotional weight and makes Anakin’s decisions feel that much more painful. Hayden Christensen still has some wonky expressions as Anakin but shines through when it comes at depicting his darker more broken side. Natalie Portman really stepped it up as Padme and gave the pivotal romance between her and Anakin a much needed sense of depth. I could believe in the feelings and intensity between them more so than before and it made the unfolding tragedy that much more meaningful. Ian McDiarmid steals the show everytime he’s on screen as Palpatine and is wonderful to watch. I love how evil he really is and his emotional manipulation skills are on full display here. It’s a masterclass in portraying pure evil and I absolutely adored him.
Presentation also feels a lot nicer in this film. The digital effects are a lot better and don’t feel as dated. There’s a closeup of Grievous that looks absolutely stunning and I kind of want it as a screensaver – the point being that some of the animation looks stunning. It makes the action feel more fluid and hits feel like they have more heft and weight behind them. Lighting, set design, and selection of color palette amplify the epic nature of scenes. The score and mixing also feel on point and help amplify the adrenaline and devastation. The third act and final battle is monumental and feels otherworldly because everything just melds together. There’s so much care put into this film and you can tell how important this climax is.
Anakin’s character arc is satisfyingly concluded and presented . It’s crazy to think about how much heavy lifting the film had to do given the lackluster job the latter two films had done at developing his descent into the dark side. Somehow the movie manages to take those threads, develop them, and be entertaining in its poetic tale. I love that Lucas decided to really embrace doing dark/twisted things in this film. There’s no holding back and when the dominoes start to feel the film feels like a doomsday scenario. There’s a real sense of tragedy and it serves as the emotional weight of the first six episodes. This movie is not only amazing in it’s own right – it retroactively makes the prequels more beautiful because the tragedy of Darth Vader is finally complete. It also makes the original trilogy more believable and emotionally charged because we understand Darth Vader. Certain lines from Episode VI already feel like they hit harder because of how this movie progresses. Somehow managing to make amazing movies even better – I think that’s a feat only a masterclass film can have.
This movie made me cry. There are gut wrenching scenes and the third act just hits you with a slew of them. The implication of certain moments tinges previous events with a feeling of melancholy and tragedy. But the ending is absolutely brilliant and rekindles a sense of hope – leading perfectly back into Episode IV.
REPORT CARD
TLDR
Revenge of the Sith was well worth it and proves that George Lucas is a visionary genius. The prequels might have started off rough and had a series of issues, but the end destination made everything worth it. Amazing action, great acting, and a poetic tragedy befitting one of the greatest characters of all time- this film was a home run.Rating this movie was hard for me. There are glaring flaws and I’m aware of them. I just think the movie does so much in spite of that and contains so many phenomenal scenes, moments, and ideas that I can’t help but not mind the issues. For me this movie is everything I wanted and more. It’s a unicorn. If you want to experience the beautiful tale of a tragic anti-hero – you owe it to yourself to watch Star Wars Episodes I – VI. I’m stoked to watch the other movies and get into The Clone Wars.For me this is a personal 10/10.
Rating
8.8/10
Grade
B+
Go to Page 2 for the spoiler discussion. Go to Page 3 to view this review’s progress report .
Hayden Christensen as Anakin Natalie Portman as Padme Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi Christopher Lee as Count Dooku Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu Frank Oz as Yoda Temuera Morrison as Jango Fett
Release Date
2002
Language(s)
English
Running Time
142 minutes
After the ending of The Phantom Menace, I was really curious to see how Anakin’s character arc and relationship with the Jedi order would develop. The way that the ending of Episode I positioned Anakin in relation to where he is at the start of Episode IV was staggering and I didn’t know how the movie would forward his corruption. While George Lucas’s sequel, Attack of the Clones, is flat and awkward , it’s poetic undertones and emotional contours are commendable and moving.
The movie picks up 10 years after the end of the last one and Anakin and Obi-Wan as they protect Padme from some unknown assassins. The movie continues the discussion on politics from Episode I and kept me interested in how it developed. Some of the discussion might seem dry to others, but I enjoyed the way that concepts like emergency powers were discussed and introduced. In particular, Ian McDiarmid’s performance as Palpatine breathes life into these scenes and watching his political maneuvering was a joy. The twists in the second and third act keep the ploys interesting and I’m excited to see how he continues his machinations.
Outside of McDiarmid there are only a few other note-worthy performances. Ewan McGregor’s is great as Obi-Wan and he manages to bring some personality to otherwise drab scenes. Frank Oz’s performance as Yoda also helps lighten up the mood because he’s funny again. Episode I Yoda is too serious and boring, so I’m happy that he’s a better balance of serious and fun. Everyone else comes off fairly similar to one another. I don’t blame them. It’s probably hard to give a lot of emotion in your words when you’re surrounded by a blue/green screen instead of a real environment.
I had a love/hate relationship regarding the romance between Padme and Anakin . Personally, I love cheesy dorky romance and am a huge romantic at heart. Even the cringy dialogue and “interesting” delivery of said dialogue couldn’t stop me from smiling at the romance between the parties. Christensen’s creeper faces as he stares at Padme had me laughing, but I didn’t think they were that bad given how strange the dialogue is. I wish there was more of a noticeable chemistry between the two. Outside of a few choice scenes on Naboo everything feels so rigid. Plot wise, I think the entire relationship would have benefited from a better initial set up. Padme never feels interested at the beginning of the movie (in fact she actively seems against a romance) and the transition towards her change in feelings is never explained. I would have loved to see her slowly lowering her barriers or showing more interest in him in their initial encounter. Anakin’s obsession with her makes sense (to me at least because I gave The Phantom Menace a lot of credit with the ‘angel’ comments). I just wish it came off cuter and less creepy. It’s hard to get into it, when it feels like he’s a stalker. I do appreciate why the romance exists and know it’s going to gut punch me in the next movie. I can just feel it.
Speaking of emotional gut punches – wow. I didn’t expect to cry while watching this movie. There’s a scene that happens in the second act that really tugs at your heartstrings. The impact of the scene was so profound that no amount of odd acting could stop my heart breaking. I’m a softie in general, but this just got me hard. The scene also highlights one of the issues I had with the film- it’s rating. I wish it was rated PG-13, because I think that some of the scenes needed a darker and more violent tone to really drive in the impact of certain scenes. There’s one moment in particular where a dark event plays out, but before it starts getting really intense we just cut away from it. It feels like it does a huge disservice to a major character arc.
Now it’s time for the bad. The dialogue in this movie is nothing to write home about and illustrates one of Lucas’s biggest problems- emotional dialogue. A lot of moments that could be resounding or interesting come off as plain and drab because they’re described in the most cliched or bland ways. Add on the monotony in acting and I can see why the movie can feel boring to people.
Additionally, the green/blue screens in this movie feel rough. I could tell that characters felt imposed on their backgrounds and this hasn’t ever really been a big problem for me in other movies. It feels unpolished . In addition, the problematic CGI in this movie comes up a lot more often way sooner. The light saber fight (the first part) in the third act is probably my least favorite on screen fight. The camera doesn’t highlight the choreography of the fighters and isn’t satisfying in its resolution either. It’s disappointing after how great the Darth Maul fight from Episode I was.
Finally, there are certain plot elements that are just so bad that I couldn’t ignore them no matter how much I tried. There’s a key element that’s introduced early on – literally characters talk about how this is something important to discover- and then it’s completely dropped. The implication of it is HUGE and is pivotal to the events of the entire movie and it is literally never mentioned again. There’s another action encounter that also makes a scene from Episode VI a lot less meaningful and I was kind of in shock when it happened.
REPORT CARD
TLDR
Attack of the Clones is frustrating to say the least. It wants to do a lot and is certainly ambitious in its scope, but the elements don’t come together in a way that’s as entertaining as it should be. The film is filled with acting flaws, graphics issues, and corny dialogue. In spite of that, i think there’s a lot of beauty in its more emotional moments, fun political maneuverings, and some heart in the middle of its cliched cringey romance dialogue (I’ll admit I am a sucker for cheesy nonsense).
Rating
7.5/10
Grade
C+
Go to Page 2 for the spoiler discussion. Go to Page 3 to view this review’s progress report .
Naomi Watts as Rachel David Dorfman as Aidan Martin Henderson as Noah Daveigh Chase as Samara Brian Cox as Richard Morgan
Release Date
2002
Language(s)
English
Running Time
115 minutes
Gore Verbinski’s iconic remake of Ringu, The Ring, was my first horror movie and I have a soft spot in my heart for it. I remember as a kid, I watched the beginning scene of Scary Movie 3 and got so scared of it that I had to run out of the room. Yes, young me was so afraid of everything that even a horror parody could get me breathing heavy. Looking back on the moment I have no idea why it was so scary,but I knew that I had to avoid the film. Imagine my horror, when I realized what I had seen was a comedic take of a much scarier scene from an actual horror movie . I wanted to get over it, but I was also just scared of it. Thankfully, in my early teen years, I decided to conquer my fears and take the plunge. The Ring absolutely terrified me and I couldn’t look at my T.V for weeks after my first viewing. Even now the movie holds up suprisingly well and should provide more than the meaningful scare for those ready to take the plunge.
For those of you not familiar with the original , the story follows Rachel a journalist who starts to investigate a series of mysteriously connected deaths. After doing a bit of digging she uncovers a rumor of a tape said to kill anyone who views it in 7 days. Desperate to get to the bottom of the mystery she locates and watches the tape falling under its curse. With a 7 day timer, Rachel has to uncover the mystery before falling victim to the curse. Just the premise itself is terrifying in its simplicity. TV’s are ubiquitous and the idea a program on it could end up killing someone is horrifying. It’s tangential and something that could happen to anyone who happened upon an unnamed VHS, which growing up could totally happen.
Given that it’s a remake, it’s surprising to see how much Verbinksi managed to add to the film to breathe new life into it. I love how the color palette is dark and blue which keeps the mood bleak and ominous. The story deals a lot with water and murkiness so the colors thematically tie everything together. It’s such a distinctive feeling and stays with you long after watching it. On top of this, Hans Zimmer’s score is absolutely chilling and feels inseparable from the story the moment it starts playing. It’s a one of a kind horror soundtrack that I’ve never felt from anything else in the genre and I think that’s commendable. Just listen to “The Well” and you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Furthermore, the deaths in this movie are a lot more chilling and scary than the deaths in the original. When we see our first victim it’s like a sucker punch to the face. I can still remember the nauseous uncomfortable feeling that ran down my spine. They linger on the screen briefly – just enough to disturb the viewer without giving us enough time to inspect the damage. What makes it all the worse is we’re never told how it happens. We see our soon to be dead victim perfectly fine, reacting to the horror of the tape, and then see their body. It gets you thinking as to what horrifying events they went through to go from healthy and happy to their ultimate fate. Despite having seen this film at least four times, the scares still get me each viewing. The changes to the contents of the cursed tape are also great. It’s a lot scarier in a visceral sense and some of the images made my stomach churn. The images are incorporated well throughout the story and I appreciate how much effort went into exploring the way the tape is created and the ramifications of such a process.
One surprising change is how much more agency the lead character is given in comparison to her counterpart in the original. Rachel feels more humane. In the original movie, Reiko (Rachael) wants to investigate the deaths because she’s a journalist. Her personal relation to the case is secondary. Meanwhile, in this movie, the situation is reversed for Rachel, and she only investigates because her sister asks her to look into deaths. It makes Rachel feel more sympathetic and her plight more tragic as a result. Watt’s acting also helps her character feel relatable. She’s a no-nonsense get down to action person so when she shows terror after watching the cursed videotape you know something awful has happened. The terror of the tape feels real ,like it’s come out into the world around. The movie does a good job of getting you attached to her and rooting for her to win.
I didn’t like how the mystery of the tape was handled in this movie compared to the remake. The way characters come to key discoveries feels undeserved and more luck based which takes away from the realistic portrayal of events. In particular, Aidan is used as a plot tool more than once and it makes his entire character feel like a device to set events in play. This is indicative of a larger problem with the movie. Certain moments are carried over from the first film, but because this movie skips certain subplots, those moments don’t feel as emotionally charged. For example, the removal of a lot of the psychic subplot removes a lot of the rich commentary on how we treat and inflict violence on the Other. It also makes the decision to keep Aidan a psychic feel strange and unneeded. It’s never done to do anything cool and its inclusion actively makes certain plot elements more confusing. The scope of his powers and knowledge of the situation also don’t line up properly, so it just makes more trouble than necessary.
REPORT CARD
TLDR
The Ring is a faithful remake of Ringu that manages to add enough new and interesting material to appeal to fans of the original. The film isn’t as thematically strong, but its scares and chilling atmosphere more than compensate. This is one of the few good remakes of a horror movie I’ve seen and anyone who wants a atmospheric, clever, scary movie should watch this.
Rating
9.5/10
Grade
A+
Go to Page 2 for the spoiler discussion. Go to Page 3 to view this review’s progress report .
Based on a true story text. Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) is tucked away within frames in the frame. Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) is lost in thought. Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) turns to answer the landlady. The landlady (Dee Wallace) wants Samantha to take the apartment. Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) stares down at the place’s listing. The price is out of her range. Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) walks back to her dorm room as the title card drops. The opening sets the tone with its healthy sprinkle of 70’s and 80’s horror homages and references to the Satanic Panic gripping the times. The milieu sets expectations, so we know what to expect. Samantha’s good luck is going to very quickly run out.
The film opens with text claiming that it’s based on a true story regarding the Satanic Panic of the 80’s. The text fades to black which then fades into to a view of a room. A young woman, Samantha (Joceline Donahue), can be seen framed by a set of doorways and shadows; she’s tucked away within the space. The camera slowly zooms in to get a better perspective of her; she’s lost in thought and the long zoom only exemplifies the intensity of her deliberation.
Suddenly, an older woman (Dee Wallace) approaches Samantha from behind and asks the latter if she enjoys the apartment unit. Samantha snaps back to reality, turns around, and claims it’s perfect. The landlady is enthused by the response. She claims that she didn’t like another applicant who seemed like trouble and would rather Samantha, someone who reminds her of her own good-natured daughter, move into the location instead.
But while the residence appears to be perfect, it’s clear there’s an issue. Samantha gazes apprehensively at the listing’s price and the reason for her earlier indecision simultaneously becomes apparent: she doesn’t have the funds needed to afford the location. When she mentions her financial struggles, the landlady decides to waive some initial fees and put off the first payment; helping out a daughter surrogate matters more than making a higher profit. With some financial wiggle room, Samantha hops off to her dorm room.
While she traverses, the opening sequence proceeds in gusto with loud yellow credits, diegetic music introduced by Samantha’s Walkman, and a few freeze frame shots. If the opening’s “true story” homage to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Amityville Horror wasn’t enough, this sequence makes the 70’s/80’s horror milieu that the film is placing itself within clear and sets expectations of where the story is going to go, cueing the viewer to focus in on the smaller details on the journey as opposed to its destination.
Samantha (Jocelin Donahue)sees a sock on her door. A babysitter ad is surrounded by notices about an upcoming eclipse. Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) takes the first slip with a callback number for the ad. The add uses the “$” symbol as a replacement for “S”.With an awful living situation in her dormitory, it’s no wonder that Samantha is desperate to escape. Getting money to leave is the only thing that’s on her mind which is why a babysitting ad provides to be so tantalizing.
But at the end of her trek, Samantha sees a sock hanging on her door, a telltale sign that her roommate (Heather Robb) has the room occupied for carnal purposes. Frustrated, she knocks on the door and reminds her roommate that it’s morning, implying that the latter’s “adventure” has been ongoing since the night and has prevented Samantha from being able to enter her own living area. What should have been her private reprieve from the world becomes an uninhabitable space occupied by antagonistic “others”.
Unwilling to walk in and deal with her roommate and her roommate’s partner in the nude, Samantha walks off and leaves the dormitory. She passes by a bulletin board plastered with flyers: in the center is an ad for a babysitter job and surrounding it are calls to join in watching an upcoming eclipse. The camera lingers on the board with the ad positioned center-frame even after Samantha passes by it highlighting the importance of what it conveys.
Then, Samantha walks back into frame and re-reads the babysitting ad. She checks around to make sure no one’s watching her and takes the first of the slips containing the number to call. She leaves the frame and the camera zooms in on the ad, emphasizing that the “S” in “Sitter” is written with a “$” symbol; Samantha’s desperate desire to find a new residence necessitates a quick stream of cash and that’s all she can focus on now.
Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) calls the number. Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) wallks away from the phone. Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) responds to the caller. Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) stares suspiciously at the phone. The paranoia sets in as Samantha experiences a strange phenomena with a public phone. She calls the number on the ad but gets no response, so she leaves a message with a proper call-back number. Yet, as soon as she begins to leave the area, the public phone begins to ring. Somehow, the client managed to track down which public phone Samantha was using and call it all well under a minute. The feeling of being watched becomes palpable as Samantha looks back at the phone as if anticipating a presence to be lurking.
She gets to a payphone and calls the number only to hear the answering machine; she leaves her name and number and asks for a callback if the opportunity is still available. The camera stays in place as she walks off, framing both her and the phone against one another; the visual importance given to the inanimate object generates a slight unease.
But then the phone starts to ring. Samantha is as surprised as us and walks back to receive the seemingly impossible call. Accordingly, she asks the caller, who is revealed to be the babysitter client, how they got the payphone number and called it; the sequence of events implies that someone had to have been watching her put the call in to call back the phone quickly enough so that she would be able to hear it and pick it up. Yet, the client sidesteps the question and presses on with the opportunity, ascertaining if Samantha is still interested. She quickly pivots; money is more important than strange coincidences and she can’t afford to question a gig offering a nice payout.
The caller asks to meet at a building in the university and Samantha agrees. She walks away from the phone again and the composition from earlier is replicated. This time, she turns around and looks at the phone quizzingly. The strangeness of the call still lingers on her mind.
Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) hesitates before opening the door. Samantha wades through a minefield of clothes. Her roommate’s partner hits on her. Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) waits in front of the student building. A dissolve of Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) waiting. Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) decides to leave. The empty building fades to a sign of……the Eclipse PieSamantha (Jocelin Donahue) vents to Megan (Greta Gerwig)Even when Samantha can get into her room, she isn’t allowed to rest as she’s immediately accosted by her roommate’s lover of the day. Desperate to get out of the location, but immediately and in the long run, she waits for a long time for the client to come and meet her to no avail. She expresses her frustrations about her situation to her friend later that day all while the upcoming eclipse lingers in the backdrop.
She treks back to her room and sees the sock removed from the door knob. She hesitates for a moment, accepts the possibility of walking on her roommate having sex, and then opens the door to go in. Yet, what she enters into isn’t that much better. Her roommate’s side of the room is absolutely filthy with clothes littering the floor. After traversing the cloth minefield, Samantha tries to pack her bag but is promptly hit on by her roommate’s partner. It’s no wonder why she wants to leave as soon as possible.
Yet, things only proceed to get more frustrating for Samantha as she waits for her caller to approach. Even though she puts her Walkman on, the music is barely audible; she can barely focus on it in preparation for what’s to come. A dissolve showcases time passing her by. When she realizes that in the time she’s waited an entire class has finished, she decides to abandon the endeavor. The disappointing scene dissolves into a sign for “Eclipse Pie” – another mention of the eclipse.
It’s at this restaurant where Samantha finally divulges the frustrations building up in her up to the point to her best friend Megan (Greta Gerwig). Her fears about not having the money to get to a place she can call home swell up and threaten to burst. The babysitter job was the perfect opportunity to get cash quickly and under the table.
Megan tries to lift Samantha’s spirits up. First, she assures Megan that the latter will be taken care of if she can’t find any money. Megan comes from a family of wealth and at the very least will help her friend with a place to stay. Second, she highlights that the job could have been awful: “the kid could be from hell.” This call-back to the opening text’s mention of “Satanic cults” adds to the unease surrounding the situation. Perhaps, it’s a good thing Samantha didn’t get the job.
When Megan offers to help Samantha get revenge by finding and tearing down all the potential babysitter ads put up by the no-show client to ensure that no one responds to their call, there’s a part of us that wants Samantha to agree and prevent the seeming inevitability. However, Samantha, the upstanding girl the landlady characterized her to be, refuses her friend’s offer to retaliate and goes back to her room to figure out what to do.
Samantha tries to get a moment’s rest. The faucets cover up the noise of Samantha crying. Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) is frustrated in the stall. The water swirls around the drain, accumulating faster than it can be removed. The sound of water from the faucets covers up the sounds of Samantha’s frustrations while making the weight of her misery apparent: her problems are piling up faster than she can possibly get rid of them.
Unfortunately, while her roommate’s nighttime visitor is now gone, her roommate is still very much present and her constant snoring makes catching even a moment’s rest impossible. Samantha seldom places her head on a pillow before giving up and going to the bathroom. She flips all the faucets on. The noise generated by the streams covers the sounds of her crying. She’s isolated in the bathroom stall and the seemingly insurmountable pressure she feels is perfectly encapsulated by the image of the drain in the sink overflowing with water from a never-ending tap.
Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) writes down the Ulman address. The moon begins to get covered in shadows. Megan (Greta Gerwig) and Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) drive to the residence. The cemetery lingers. The camera lingers on the front door. An unseen man opens the door for Megan (Greta Gerwig) and Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) . When the babysitter opportunity presents itself again, Samantha immediately decides to give it a shot. The eclipse takes a bigger prominence as a shot of the moon is shown after her decision is made. Her journey to the residence amplifies the feeling of unease as the camera lingers on a cemetery and withholds as much information about what she’s walking into as possible.
But back in the room, Samantha is greeted with unexpected news from her roommate who informs her that someone called and left a message regarding a babysitter job. Immediately, Samantha jumps on the opportunity, gets the number, and calls the client once more. She quickly forgives his excuse for not coming: he had a hectic morning and found himself unable to come. He mentions that he had another sitter lined up but they backed out and gave him trouble and thanks Samantha for calling back in spite of his treatment of her. Just like with the landlady, it appears that the upstanding Samantha is here to save the day and take the place of another deviant woman.
He asks her to come in for the night and babysit till a little after midnight in exchange for double the rate of pay. With no hesitation, Samantha agrees and calls up Megan for a ride. The film cuts to a shot of the moon, a reminder of the coming eclipse, as Samantha gets into Megan’s car. During their long drive up to the client’s household. Megan admits that she took down all the ads she could find; Samantha realizes that her opportunity was a result of this interference as the client had no one else to reach out to. Megan, for all intents and purposes, got Samantha her position for the night.
This revelation is accompanied by a lingering shot of a cemetery the girls drive by – a sign of things to come. The cemetery dissolves to a shot of the girls finally making it to the house. They get out and make their way to the front door and knock. A long zoom on the door handle raises the stakes on what’s to follow, creating an anticipation to discover the truth behind the job opportunity. The door opens and the girls look up as a pair of long arms extends out to greet them; the client’s face is withheld from the frame and the viewer amplifying the mystery and beckoning both the viewer and the girls to discover what lies in wait. But as the night goes on, Samantha finds herself embroiled in a dark mystery that threatens to completely destroy her life.
While the nature of the mystery, presaged by the film’s opening text and multiple subsequent clues, offers little in the way of genuine surprise, it gives director Ti West the perfect backdrop to explore the anxieties of the time and present an almost mythological depiction of the horrors associated with the respective culture shift. Like the films whose styles it pays homage to, The House of the Devil uses the literal struggle its protagonist undergoes to identify the stakes of the culture war of the era, revealing that the true horror of the “other” side stems not from their perverse desires but from the way those desires seem to mirror and pervert traditional desires.
Samantha’s journey seems to be a slow one, but its meticulous construction gives West ample time to set up her archetypal innocence and establish threats, unseen to her but visible to us, which bubble underneath the surface until the final few minutes of the film where the violence finally erupts. It’s when the struggle finally comes to its climax that the cinematography shifts from the slow and meticulous to the rapidly shifting and handheld, reflecting the transitional state resulting from the horrific conflict. When the dust finally settles, the camera regains its composure and documents the aftermath of the battle, tying the thematic and narrative strands up in a nice, neat, mortifying package
REPORT CARD
TLDR
The House of the Devil perfectly encapsulates the best qualities of 70’s and 80’s horror films, capitalizing on cultural anxieties to elevate macabre sequences into terrifying nightmares. This is a Satanic Panic story that simmers in wait until just the right moment before bursting into a bloody hellscape that no fan of horror should miss.
Rating
10/10
Grade
A+
Go to Page 2 for the spoiler discussion and more in-depth analysis. Go to Page 3 to view this review’s progress report .
