Sinister Review

Hello again, my creepies!

So in the midst of all of life's craziness, I was called to a friend's house to hang out and watch a movie. You'll have to read the review what I thought of said movie, which was Sinister (2012).

Here I was, sitting on the mattress-made-couch in my friend's living room. We sat around eating dumplings and hot-and-sour soup and joking about our high school experiences from the past, when my friend perked up and said "hey, I have Sinister on Bluray and I haven't cracked it open yet, anyone want to watch?"
There was an excited "YES!" from everyone in the room, aside from myself, who sat indifferent. I'd heard of Sinister, don't get me wrong. I knew that it existed. I just hadn't gotten around to watching it and I had NO idea what it was about.

And so we watched.

The opening scene- a family being hung from a tree. Alright, disturbing. But way to try to reel me in with some cheap thrills, Sinister.

One hour in. I was begging them to turn it off. Was I bored? No. Was I unhappy with the storyline? No.
I was so terrified of the death scenes that I had my hands over my eyes to distract myself from the horror that was happening. There's just something about watching a family get drowned to death in their own pool while strapped to their lounge chairs (and watching their feet twitch as they try to escape) that made me lose it. Maybe it was the music.

It freaks me out every single time. It's horrible. I've always known music has a huge impact on how a film flows, but I never thought that it would disturb me this much. (This was when I started saying "Okay, do you guys want to do something else now?")

But alas, I made it to the end of the film. My body felt like an overcooked noodle. Mentally, I was shot. Every sound around me made me jump out of my skin. It made me despise children.
So it did its job.

For those of you that have never seen Sinister, I rate it as one of the top 5 scariest horror films I've ever watched. The story is realistic, brutal, and it makes you hope that you don't have any kids living in your house.
Mr. Boogie, or Buhguul, isn't nearly as involved as I wish he was, though the sequel looks like it's going to involve him much more (and it comes out in August, you guys! Yay!) but he's still scary. I like that he's not the center of attention- the weird looking antagonist doesn't steal the show, but what Ellison (the main protagonist) is going through takes the main stage, and everything going on around him is like a well-orchestrated horror choreography of terrifying, gory, horribleness.

If I was going to rate this film out of 10, I give it a 9.5. I wanted to be scared by a horror movie, and it totally delivered. I am SO HAPPY I finally got around to watching this film. So many thumbs up.

Until next time, spooks,
Taylor Terrible

Empty Bodies 2: Adaptation

A while back I wrote a post reviewing Zach Bohannon's first book in the Empty Bodies series. Well today, friends, I have the pleasure of letting you know that he's released the second book: Adaptation!
Not only is Zach an incredible friend, he's an awesome storyteller and writer. I've had so much fun getting to know him and his writing, and I've also had the privilege of seeing these stories develop.

It picks up where Empty Bodies left off, the survivors trying to, well, survive as the Empties are taking over.
I don't want to give too much away for those of you that haven't read either book in the series, but what I can tell you is that if you're looking for a novel that's creepy, realistic, fun and gory, you've met your match. Empty Bodies: Adaptation got me to the point of cringing (quite a few times, I have a serious fear of being bitten by a "zombie" or in this case: "Empty")
The characters are so lovable...even the ones that you love to hate. David, in particular, is a character that I was scared to be connected to emotionally. He's so messed up in the head with a rage that drives him to kill, but when his story is explained...it's sad. I felt myself liking him, and then I caught myself and decided I had to hate him again. I'm still indifferent.

Something different that occurs in this novel as opposed to the first Empty Bodies novel is there's an exponential amount of character growth. The first novel, I feel, established the story, let you in on a few back-stories and introduced characters. Adaptation, however, makes you feel so close to these characters that it's like you went to high school with them. They're memorable; you feel for them and with them throughout the entire novel.
The Empties are scarier, they're smarter (in a way), and they're out for blood. This time, the characters not only have to deal with the Empties, but they also have to deal with each other.

As far as my real review of the novel goes: I blew through it in 5 hours with a few minutes of breaks in between. I sat down and hardly got up. It's enthralling, and it's really, really addicting.
It's on sale today on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Empty-Bodies-Adaptation-Zach-Bohannon-ebook/dp/B00VDIFSSW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1432001835&sr=8-2&keywords=empty+bodies
I suggest you pick it up if you're looking for a novel that's going to keep you on the edge of your seat no matter how long it takes for you to read it (but I'll warn you, it probably won't take long because you'll be flipping pages like a fiend).

Until next time, spooks! Let me know if you read Adaptation, and tell me what you think! Also leave a review on the Amazon page, it helps support indie horror :)

Red Lights (2012) Review

Guys. Honestly, I had no idea this movie existed, but I am so glad  I stumbled across it on Netflix. I was just looking for a good horror movie to watch and I checked out the ratings on this one, and I saw it had a pretty fabulous cast, and I said to myself "hey, why the heck not".
Now, I don't consider this film a horror film. It's not scary and it doesn't have jump scares, but it is a thriller.
Red Lights tells the story of Margaret Matheson (Sigourney Weaver) and her assistant (Cillian Murphy) trying to disprove psychic phenomena. Until now, they were doing really well, exposing fraud and letting the world know that psychics aren't real, until Simon Silver (Robert De Niro) comes back from his retirement as one of the world's best physics...mysteriously after his biggest critic dies of a heart attack.

First of all, the cast is incredible. I can never complain about Sigourney Weaver, I kind of have a huge girl crush on her, and then there's the ineffable Robert De Niro, and the insanely talented Cillian Murphy.
This movie totally changed the way I saw him...he's a really, really talented actor with beautifully chiseled cheekbones and a ridiculous jawline. Look out world, this guy's fabulous. He was by far my favorite part of the film.

As far as the story goes, I'm not the kind of person that can sit through a movie without wanting to get up at least once to grab a snack, get some water, or I just generally get bored and need a break...but this one kept me enthralled from beginning to end. Robert De Niro is the best love-to-hate semi-antagonist ever, Sigourney Weaver plays an awesomely frustrated doctor, and Cillian Murphy is the most loveable angsty assistant.
Personally, as someone who wants to be skeptical about psychics (I had an experience about 3 or 4 years ago with a medium that made me doubt my skepticism), this movie was cool to watch. It made me wonder if people really take it all that seriously where they devote their lives to trying to disprove the existence of any type of paranormal anything.
As a paranormal investigator, I like to believe that there's something after death. This film made me question it, then believe in it, then question it all over again. My mind was running laps the whole time, and I have to say, I was really, really impressed overall.

While, like I said, it isn't a horror film, I still suggest it for people that are into the idea of the paranormal, psychic abilities, or just people that enjoy a good movie (which I hope is all of you).
Let me know if you've seen it, I would love to hear other opinions!

Until next time, my spooks. <3
Taylor Terrible

The New Pennywise is Only 21?!

There is speculation floating around the internet that Will Poulter of "We're the Millers" is in negotiations to play Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the remake of Stephen King's "It" and I'm freaking out.
I don't know if I'm freaking out in a good way or a bad way, but I'm freaking out.
As most of you know (or at least I think most of you know), my top 3 horror films of all time are Hellraiser, It, and Trick 'r Treat (in that order). It's a big deal for Hollywood to be remaking one of the classics, especially for me, because I think I saw It for the first time when I was about 9 and fell in love with killer clowns after that...
But what concerns me is the fact that Tim Curry will not be playing Pennywise. He made Pennywise one of the most iconic horror villains of all time; something nightmares were made of. Clowns became something other than a fun circus attraction- they became something to be feared. I feel that Curry is irreplaceable, and I by no means think that they're trying to replace him, but I think it will be hard to be on-par with his performance.

The plan is for the film to be broken up into two feature-length films, I assume to accommodate the child side of the book, and the adult side. For those of you that have not read the books but have seen the film, the film is awesome, but doesn't do the book the justice it deserves. There is so much more character development that needs to be seen that isn't acknowledged in the original film, and I think it was to fit time constraints because if they had followed the book, the film would have probably been about 6 hours.
SO! They will be splitting it into the two 2-hour films. Or so I assume. I'm also assuming that if the plan is to stay true to the books, that the films will be much more graphic this time around.

What do you guys think about the casting decision?!