Re-Animator (1985) Review

I need to preface this review by saying: the fact that none of you have suggested this film to me is actually slightly offensive. I'm actually bitter about the fact that no one has ever said "you should probably watch Re-Animator" to me. I'm so disappointed in you all. -sigh-

Now that my sentiments are out in the open...I went into this film totally blind. I've heard people talk about it, but as some of you know, I'm typically the last to jump on the bandwagon when it comes to "classic" horror films, for some reason. Most of the films that I fall in love with are the ones I'm the last to know about. I don't know why it happens that way, but it does...and I think I'm okay with it.

Anyway, all I knew about this film was that it's based on a story by H.P. Lovecraft (insert swoon here), and that Jeffery Combs is a psychotic medical student that brings dead things back to life. For those of you that have never seen the film, there's the synopsis for you! To be honest, I would typically give a little more, but there are so many things about this film that I don't want to give away by giving you a full play-by-play of how the film goes. You really just need to watch it for yourself.

I'm truly a gore-hound. I am in love with watching people get torn apart. I think it's awesome when someone's head explodes. Re-Animator does not skimp on the pure beauty that is insane amounts of gore.

It also does not skimp on attractive men. Herbert West, will you marry me?

This is also one of the strangest films I think I've ever seen. Once you get past the fact that the film is paying homage to the horror classic Psycho by using the same music, and you get past the fact that it's a cheesy 80's horror, it's really strange, disturbing, and actually pretty gross. There are some scenes that made me cringe big-time (and you'll cringe through the whole film if you don't like needles), and there are copious amounts of laughable weirdness.

While the film is noticeably 80's (it's fun, campy, and the VFX are slightly derpy), the storyline is great and really doesn't leave much to be desired. As far as rewatchability goes for this film, I would watch it again tomorrow! It's AWESOME. So much awesome.

As for a number rating, I give this one an 7/10! I'd watch it again (see above), it fills my requirements for a good horror film (slightly cringeworthy, good story, fun characters and gross deaths), the only change I would make would be some of the actors. At times they were just totally not believable.

Have YOU seen Re-Animator? What did you think?

Burnt Scrolls: A Review

Over the past year, I've had the pleasure of coming in contact with some really incredible people in horror. I won a giveaway and met Zach Bohannon who is now one of my good friends, and through him, I was put in touch with Shannon of Nightmarish Conjurings. Afterwards, I followed someone on Instagram, and it turns out he's a really, really amazing writer...Mr. Jeremy Megargee.
Now, I've reviewed Jeremy's work here before. You may remember me reviewing his novel Dirt Lullabies and totally fangirling over it. His descriptive language is impeccable. His storytelling is beautiful. So when I got a message asking if I'd like a copy of his newest creation, Burnt Scrolls, I almost fell out of my chair, but "calmly" responded "oh yeah sure cool thanks!"
I just recently moved out of my house (a little over a week, when you all read this) so I ran home to pick up a few things (a Harley Quinn costume, a tea infuser...the essentials), and I had a package! I shredded the thing apart when I saw who it was from. I held the book up to the ceiling Lion King-style, and smiled. My book of short stories and poetry was here!! And it had the sweetest note inside!
I took Burnt Scrolls to work with me. I hoped it would be slow. It was. So I sat and I read, and as usual, I blew through another one of Megargee's books in 48 hours.

There's something about the way he writes; it's like a fine wine. You marvel in its beauty with each sip you take, and eventually you're so consumed by its delectable flavor that you drink and drink and drink until you're incoherently drunk. That's the best description I can give of what happens when I read his work- I become drunk on literature, and I can't consume enough.
This book is a little different than anything he's written before- it's much more personal. "Cathartic", as he puts it. It's a book of short stories and poems, and for those of you that have read his other works, you're in for a treat! The short stories (3 of the 4) are "prequels" and stories of characters from his other novels. The poems are a journey; some are horrific and creepy and others are personal and sweet.

Let's talk about a few of my favorites:
All of the short stories are totally consuming, but I'll talk about my top 2 as to not give away much more than I need to.
Welcome to Rust Valley takes place ten years after the events in Dirt Lullabies. As always, it's beautifully written, and the descriptions of the cave that Benjamin travels into...it practically had my mouth watering, it was so stunning. The characters, as usual, are fun to connect with and although the story is short, you find yourself rooting for them.
Black Rose Petals tells the story of my girl Thorny Rose from Dirt Lullabies. Before I go any further talking about this story, let me tell you a little something about myself: I have the tendency to fall in love with certain characters, specifically the underdog of most stories. Now, when I read Dirt Lullabies and I learned about Thorny Rose, I started doing my makeup the way she was described, I wanted to be her friend, I wanted her to come over and drink tea with me. SO when I saw that she got her own short story, I nearly fainted. Okay, maybe not literally, but I was way too excited. Her story is sad, believable, and tragic. She's every Halloween-lover's dream. I can't get enough of her. She's amazing and this story is amazing. Yes.

As far as the poetry goes, it's all very personal. You can tell that the topics are from a deep place within Jeremy's soul, so reading it is like sitting down across a table from him while he tells you about the deepest, darkest places of his mind. It's really an experience that I wasn't expecting, but I was deeply thrilled by the end of the book.
A specific poem in particular really touched me: The Stray. I wont' tell you what it's about, but what I will tell you is that I messaged Jeremy to let him know that I was sitting at work crying like a fool because of it.

All in all, this book is a solid read. Like I said, you can blow through it with the intensity of the stories- they reel you in and don't let go until you hit the poetry, which then takes you on such an intense roller coaster ride that you may end up crying. I don't know, maybe it's just me.
However, I highly suggest it! If any of you guys pick it up and read it, let me know! I'll link the page where you can buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Burnt-Scrolls-Collection-Tales-Poems/dp/1515352250/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

You can follow Jeremy on Facebook and on instagram at @xbadmoonrising!

Until next time, ghosts and ghouls, stay spooky!
Taylor Terrible <3

Grave Encounters (2011) Review

As someone who has been into the paranormal from a young age, I’m always interested in watching horror films that showcase paranormal activity (well). After some experiences that I consider to be potentially paranormal, I wanted to be able to prove or disprove the existence of a life apart from what we have here in the “mortal” realm.While I still have yet to be able to prove or disprove this theory, I’ve spent lots and lots of time brushing up on my share of mediocre ghost hunting, as well as watching all of the shows I can get my hands on that are about paranormal investigation (my guilty pleasure is watching marathons of Ghost Adventures, eating popcorn and giggling at Zak Bagans).So with that being said, when it comes to films about paranormal investigation, I tend to have my reservations. I worry that they won’t do the field the justice it deserves (it’s not easy!) but I try to keep myself current in terms of horror films, so I watch all of the cheesy ones, and I also try to watch all of the good ones.Therefore, today, I’ll be reviewing Grave Encounters. 

The synopsis of Grave Encounters from IMDB:“For their ghost hunting reality show, a production crew locks themselves inside an abandoned mental hospital that’s supposedly haunted- and it might prove to be all too true.”I wish there was more to it than this, so I’m going to give you the synopsis I think you all deserve:“For their hilariously realistic, slightly cheesy ghost hunting reality show, a production crew full of cocky jerks lock themselves inside an abandoned mental hospital that’s supposedly haunted- and shit gets real.”
Basically, this group of “paranormal investigators” (I put it in quotes because they don’t actually truly believe in the paranormal, as far as they let on in the film) decides to go to one of the most haunted places they can find, assuming it’s a hoax as they’ve found it normally is, and starts to find that maybe they’ve been wrong about the paranormal this whole time.The building moves around within itself, doors disappear, they find ghosts of the people that died in the hospital.
As far as how scary the film is, I never really felt terrified per say, however I did experience a few moments when I was really freaked out. I have to say, one of my biggest fears in the world is hospitals (abandoned or not). There’s something about the smell of functioning hospitals, the way the fluorescent lights make everyone look sick, the sounds of the beeping monitors…it all makes me so uncomfortable. So seeing this group in a sad, dilapidated, abandoned hospital made me feelexceptionally uncomfortable.
There really weren’t many jump scares, which I very much appreciated. Lately I’ve been on a real hate-streak of films that rely on jump scares for the “horror” of the film, and this one was more about the horror of the situation. I like that. That’s a very good thing.
I’ve also been very against found-footage-style films, and this one absolutely is. I don’t really know what it is about this one, to be honest, that makes it seem so much more real than all the others. I think they don’t play so much off of the fact that they’re filming through one entity and they make an effort to change shots every once in a while so you aren’t watching exclusively through one camera. I don’t know, all I can say is that this one looks better than all the others and I didn’t despise it.

But, all in all, if you’re interested in movies about ghosts, found-footage films, films about paranormal investigation…I really like this one! I didn’t expect much going in, and I was pleasantly surprised when it ended and I wasn’t miserable!
Let me know what you thought of Grave Encounters, creepies!

Until next time,

Taylor Terrible
PS: I just found out there’s a sequel! I’m going to have to look into that soon!