Not many new horror flicks worth the watch
For Halloween, we take a look at five very different flicks available on video or to stream that may offer some scares or may make you say, “Who cares?”
“The Gift”
Joel Edgerton writes, directs and stars in this thriller, and for his directorial debut, he brings a full bag of tricks. The plot boils and twists, offering nuanced storytelling and moral manipulation from multiple perspectives. Edgerton, Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall are more than effective teaming up and delivering these changing points of view. Allusions to Hitchcock get thrown around a little too willy-nilly at times, but it can be said that this is a smart thriller and a nice gift for Halloween – worth a watch.
“The Gallows”
Every killer has to have his weapon. Jason wielded a machete. Michael Myers swung a butcher knife. Leatherface danced with a chainsaw. This film tries to put Charlie into the gallery of iconic killers, and they arm him with a noose as his weapon of mass destruction. The knots aren’t tight enough. Filmmakers use an awful shaky camera technique, and the actors are even shakier. The killer comes off looking funny instead of frightening. This noose is too loose – pass.
“Final Girl”
Abigail Breslin is hunted by a group of sadistic, privileged young men. B-movie veteran Wes Bentley jumps onboard to turn Breslin into a human weapon. Young newcomers, Logan Huffman and Alexander Ludwig, are members of the psycho club who hunt women for fun. The thrills are few in this psychological thriller. The dialogue is stilted. Breslin is tremendously unbelievable to the point of painful to watch. I was glad when the final credits rolled – pass.
“Insidious: Chapter 3”
Leigh Whannell was the writer/co-creator of the “Saw” franchise and the first two “Insidious” films. For this sequel, Whannell gives directing a crack as well. Haunting storylines have become popular in horror movies, and these films have become the standard – mostly due to their consistency, releasing a movie about every two years since 2010. This one goes for a heartfelt origin story. The creep factor creeps around at times, and there are some jump scares which makes this one – barely worth a watch.
“The Human Centipede 3”
If you don’t know about these gross-out films, here’s all you need to know – someone surgically links people together from butt to mouth in the shape of a centipede…just Google it. Filmmaker Tom Six keeps upping the ante. The centipede gets longer and grosser. Six calls this vulgar extravaganza, “Final Sequence,” and goes for a 500-person prison hookup. The over-the-top approach aims for comedy, but it’s not funny. Recruiting B-movie stars Eric Roberts and Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister and Porn star Bree Olson hint at an attempt at campy cult status, but it’s a weak attempt. Let’s hope this is the final sequence – pass.
This story was originally published October 26, 2015 at 12:19 PM with the headline "Not many new horror flicks worth the watch."