@bez, thanks for the info on those two films. That's pretty much what I was worried about with Assasination Nation, that I'm not a demographic on that. I'll still give it a watch eventually.
mid90s sounds like it's my thing though. The trailer touched on some stuff that hit right in the feels/nostalgia zone. I grew up in that area and was a skate punk hanging out with older kids doing dumb shit.
Any of you listen to horror movie podcasts? Shockwaves? Daily Dead/Corpse Club? I do, I love getting info on stuff I'm missing out, I tend to agree with at least one or two of the hosts. I've come across a strange thing though and I find it kind of interesting. Two films I watched this weekend have come up over the last month or two on both podcasts. Hellfest and Apostle.
Hellfest received glowing reviews from everyone on both podcasts that have watched it (not all the hosts did). They all talked about how it was a great modern day slasher, great kills, original idea. I hated it, I shut it off after 15 minutes and then after hearing a few of the folks on Corpse Club say they almost quit watching around the same point but stuck through it and really loved the last 2 acts of the film gave me some hope so I went back and finished it. The best way to describe this film is CW R-Rated Slasher. For those that don't know what the CW is, it's an American television network that puts out teen programming that is super stylish with the "prettiest" people they can find, regardless of acting prowess. Shows like Vampire Diaries, Arrow, The Flash, iZombie and Riverdale. The acting was awful, the characters were cookie cutter and downright irritating. The kills were not clever or even that gory, hell I've seen worse on cable TV. I felt no tension, I just wanted all the characters to die so I could stop watching the thing. I did laugh out loud at the final moments of the film [spoiler] you don't discover the killers identity, which I actually liked, but at the end you follow the killer home, he hangs up his mask next to other masks which infers he has done this at 6 other parks/events, then cuts to a little girl sleeping on the couch, slow push in with the camera, ominous tense music, the man steps into frame looking at the little girl, you only see his back, she stirs, wakes up and goes DADDY! music changes to something nice and she runs to hug him. We know he's at home, obviously that's his daughter, why would anyone think he's going to hurt his own daughter? it made no sense and seemed to be just another example of inept film making [/spoiler] So I don't recommend this unless you are really into modern slashers. I'd even recommend watching Season 2 of the show SLASHER on Netflix instead of watching this.
Now on to Apostle. I love the filmmaker, Gareth Evans, he made two of the greatest action films in the last two decades IMO, The Raid 1 & 2. I was excited to see him venture into something a little different. This film is more of a period piece about a cult living on a island, a brother trying to rescue his kidnapped sister from the cult. I thought this was great. Well shot, well acted and really interesting take on the whole cult religion sub genre. Sure you can call it derivative of Wicker Man but that's the same as saying any film that deals with some form of possession is derivative of The Exorcist. There's a bar set but that doesn't mean other films can't exist in the same sub genre. For me this one sits up there with Kill List and Wicker Man as one of the better ones (you could kind of work The Ritual into this too). The films not perfect, it's a touch too long but honestly I liked living in the world and I'm not too sure what I would cut out that wouldn't take away some character development. This is where I find it strange that the hosts on those shows generally disliked this film, so much that two of them didn't even recommend people really watch it. This film is head and shoulders above Hellfest on every level. I'm pretty sure @Nathan didn't care for this film and I'd be curious to see his thoughts on it and if he's watched Hellfest and enjoyed it. Maybe I'm just in the minority here but Apostle was a good movie with some great movements. I guess it could be expectations got in the way, not really sure but I didn't really see it on too many peoples top horror lists of 2018 and it probably would have been 9 or 10 for me.
This one was pretty enjoyable werewolf film. Great concept. Some sketchy effects. Overall had a good time watching it. We need more quality werewolf films as I feel like I give ones a pass that normally wouldn't if there were better ones to stack it up against.
Not sure if any of you are fans of Batman The Animated Series but the new bluray release is stellar. It's wonderful to see the animation in HD. I just got my set last week and I've been slowly watching episodes. It's my favorite Batman, has always been. Kevin Conroy is the voice I hear in my head when I read anything Batman related for comics.
