The Ninth Gate (1999)

Netflix DVD with Lauren on 10/30/11
This reminds me a lot of Rosemary's Baby in tone, which is most likely due to Roman Polanski as the director and the heavy occult theme. I think that I would have liked this a lot if the pacing had just been fixed. The movie is over 2 hours long, with the first 55 minutes or so dedicated entirely to set up. Once the first hour is over, you feel like you've been subjected to some kind of lecture on the mythology and history of Satanism. From there, the film moves with a very deliberate pace, though never quite introducing characters fully and building towards three separate and oddly-spaced climaxes. I enjoyed the film, but I most likely won't ever watch it again.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 99

The Stepford Wives (1975)

Netflix DVD with Lauren on 10/29/11
Surprisingly, this is based on a book by the same author as Rosemary's Baby. And I think it would have been really interesting to see what a director like Roman Polanski or even Tim Burton in his really early years would have done with it. The problems that this film has are more products of its era than the actual production. It's slow and almost deliberate, taking time for audiences to put the clues together and catch up to what's going on. Modern audiences don't need all of the bread crumbs that are dropped. That being said, this is far superior to that awful remake with Nicole Kidman a few years ago.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 98

The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

Merrill Auditorium with Lauren, Andy, and Dad on 10/28/11
This is one of the few original "monster movies" that I had never seen. Lon Chaney, father of Lon Chaney Jr. (duh) of The Wolfman fame, is the iconic Phantom, with the skull-like appearance and secret lair under the Paris Opera House. I'm not really familiar with the original book, nor have I seen many adaptations of it, but I definitely enjoyed this. We went to a special showing, complete with a 7,000 pipe organ playing the soundtrack - it's an amazing experience to see a silent film now with live accompaniment!
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 97

Carriers (2009)

Netflix Streaming on 10/10/11
This is like Contagion with a micro budget. Or, like Contagion meets Zombieland. It's pretty good! It's a roadtrip movie, through the west as the four main characters head to the ocean, to a place where they believe they will be safe from the virus. It's never really clear what the virus is, or how it started, but it's fast-moving and they aren't afraid to kill off main characters. It's also made clear that they aren't looking for some mythical community that is virus-free - they're just looking for a place with no other people where they will be free of the danger of infection. Overall, solid low-budget horror film.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 96

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2011)

Westbrook Cinemagic with Ben on 9/13/11
This is Guillermo del Toro, who was genius with Pan's Labyrinth and so smart in bringing The Orphanage to the US. This one isn't quite as spectacular. I think that the story could have been really awesome except for two things: it would have been far better handled by a Spanish director (and turned out in the vein of The Orphanage), and it would have been much scarier if the audience didn't see the evil pixie things. They're gross-looking, sure, but seeing them removes some of the horrifying mystery. It's much worse to know that something is moving under the sheets with you but not to see what that something is.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 89

Session 9 (2001)

DVD on 8/15/11
This is a weird, weird movie. I think it is one that will take multiple viewings to figure out exactly who is possessed by whom and when, but it's interesting enough to do so. It takes place entirely in the old Danvers State Hospital, a fantastic historic landmark that was unfortunately demolished by some apartment-complex developer a few years ago. Deserted buildings are always creepy, but never more so than when they were mental hospitals. This is like what Freedomland should have been.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 73

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Borrowed DVD on 6/14/11
First of all, I love that George A. Romero uses bright red paint for blood instead of something more realistic. It gives this whole thing an air of tongue-in-cheek suspension of disbelief that I think it needs to be successful. It's also interesting that in zombie movies, main characters take WAY more time to turn into zombies than bit characters. Roger here (the slightly dorky blond one) takes half an hour of screen time to turn into a zombie. Others seem to turn immediately. Though I think that zombie movies have come a long, long way since, this is a worthy start (or second - Night of the Living Dead is technically first) to a fun, gory genre.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 45

The Roommate (2011)

Netflix DVD over 5/21/11 and 5/22/11
Yep, this one is just as bad as I had heard it was. Lyla Garrity from Friday Night Lights gets stalked by that girl from Gossip Girl (that's what Leighton Meester is famous for, right?) and chaos ensues. Except, nothing really serious happens until the very end (except for that poor kitten - and I don't even like cats. I hate them actually). And when the end does come, it's a lot of violence action jam packed into 10 minutes or so. Don't waste your time.
My Netflix rating: 2 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 37

Scream 4 (2011)

Saco Cinemagic with Ben on 5/5/11
This had the potential to be really bad (much like Scream 3 was), but I found it very fun! It's self-aware (just like all three before it), and pokes fun at Hollywood's recent obsession with reboots. They rounded up a pretty good cast of young actors and a fantastic group of cameos. I've heard that they're considering making 5 and 6 in the series, but that's pushing it. This one was more of the same good and, I'll admit, I wasn't able to call the ending. But if they try to push the new generation idea any further, they will just end up with a Saved By the Bell: The New Class situation. Nobody wants that and besides, this franchise has a reputation to protect.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 30

Devil (2010)

On Demand with Karen and Dale on 3/12/11
Considering that everything M. Shyamalan has done in the past 7 or 8 years has been really terrible, this is actually not half bad. He only wrote this one (no directing) and, more importantly, he doesn't make ill-advised cameos/bit roles. They don't hold back too much on the freakish deaths and the face that shows up on the camera isn't as creepy as the one in The Exorcist but it is pretty weird. All in all, not a great movie, but certainly more entertaining than Lady in the Water.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 13

The Wolfman (2010)

Netflix DVD over 2/13/11 and 2/15/11
Well, if you people feel that it's absolutely necessary to remake the classic Universal monster movies, at least with this one you avoided the CGI Werewolf Trap. (For examples of the CGI Werewolf Trap, see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban or New Moon.) While I am against remaking these films (I'm pretending that the impending remake of Creature From the Black Lagoon is an elaborate lie), the design of the werewolf in this film is nearly identical to the original Lon Chaney, Jr. design. He looks like a man who's sprouted wolf hair and fangs - not some bad amalgamation of human and canine. Honestly, this movie was much better than I was expecting. Geraldine Chaplin is great as the Gypsy woman (I'm surprised she's still alive). I doubt, though, that Emily Blunt could run through the woods like that in that dress - stays are killer.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 3

140. November 3, 2010 - Bride of Chucky (1998)

Yep - no matter how bad these are, I still watch them. But, now I've seen all of them (including Seed of Chucky, which I actually saw first) and don't have to watch any more. This one isn't quite as wretched as number three, but it's nowhere near good and the doll sex scene is even more disturbing than the marionette sex scene in Team America. Katherine Heigl shows up and honestly, with a start like this, it's amazing that her career went anywhere.
My Netflix rating: 2 stars

138. October 27, 2010 - Let Me In (2010)

First thing's first - I don't care if it actually does snow that much in New Mexico. I think that it was a mistake right off the bat to move a story that originally takes place in Sweden to a US state that most people associate with the desert. Other than that, this is a very close adaptation of the Swedish film. I'm curious as to whether it's an almost slavish remake or if they're both just very closely following the book. I had issues with the one scene that they did change (the father and his unfortunate run-in with flesh-melting acid) and though the girl in this version grew on me after awhile, I prefer the Swedish girl as Eli/Abby (Lina something). Chloe Moretz has an edge to her that would normally be perfect for playing a vampire, except this little vampire girl isn't supposed to be hard like that. She's less of a vampire and more of a little girl who happens to be immortal and needs to drink blood.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars

136. October 20/24, 2010 - Let the Right One In (2008)

Swedish cinema has a certain feel to it. The color palette is often very pale and gray (though I suppose that may have something to do with the fact that 90% of the time, it's snowy) and, regardless of the details, the story seems bleak. Even this, which definitely adds an element of horror (what with the blood-drinking 12-year-old), still has that hopeless, empty air. The two child actors are very effective, especially the boy with his platinum blonde hair and ice blue eyes. I'm very curious to see how the American version is later this week.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

128. October 10, 2010 - Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)

Someone should inform the Umbrella Corporation that creating a virus that makes zombies is bad and that this series should have stayed at three. In fact, at this point they aren't even zombies anymore - they're orc-like creatures with nasty tentacle things that come out of their mouths. Zombies were fun. These things, not so much. Also not fun was the overuse of slow-motion and the strange number of fade outs. I had to see the movie in 3D, which I deeply dislike, but I think I would have been disappointed no matter how many dimensions there were. I cared nothing for new characters when they were killed off, and even though the movie starts off with Alice being neutralized and turned into a normal human again, she still seems supernatural.
My Netflix rating: 2 stars

121. September 13/14, 2010 - The Orphanage (2007)

This may not have been directed by Guillermo del Toro, but it has the same chilling and moving feel that Pan's Labyrinth and The Devil's Backbone have. J.A. Bayona definitely channeled at least some of del Toro's filmmaking talent. The story walks the line between paranormal horror and pyschological thriller, allowing the audience to piece together what they think is happening before throwing them for a loop at the very end. The performances are all pretty good, but this movie is truly about the story and the tone - though I will say that I greatly enjoy the surprise appearance of Geraldine Chaplin as a medium who is brought in to commune with the ghost children. Don't watch this alone late at night, but definitely watch it at some point.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

106. August 15, 2010 - Drag Me to Hell (2009)

On the surface, this looks like a cheesy, gore-filled slasher film. It's not. It's actually well-written, though the characters don't necessarily avoid all of the horror movie traps that they should. It is not without gore, and in fact there are some serious cringe-worthy moments that pop up out of nowhere. While it might be a little cliche to include a gypsy curse that haunts a main character (Angel, anyone?), it manages to put a nice spin on it. The ending is fabulous. I love that they went there.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

51. May 4/5, 2010 - Ghost Rig (2001)

So, this movie had a budget of, like, five dollars, right? That's the only way anyone could have approved of production quality so low. I was heartened to see that at least Jamie Bamber made this before Battlestar Galactica - if he had made it after, what a sad statement that would have been. It's about a bunch of people (activists, according to the Netflix description - what exactly were they activists for?) who board an abandoned oil rig, only to have an invisible demon possess each one for awhile, kill him, then jump ahead to the next one. I'm pretty sure there was an Angel episode like that. The Angel episode was better.
My Netflix rating: 2 stars

31. March 31, 2010 - Jennifer's Body (2009)

This is one of those movies that you know is terrible and yet, somehow it manages to be completely awesome and enjoyable too. While I don't necessarily agree with the casting of Amanda Seyfried as the nerdy best friend, I really like her as an actress so I'll go with it. It's gory and horrifying and funny all at the same time, though I didn't need to see the copious amounts of black vomit that demon-possessed Jennifer spews from time to time. So far, Diablo Cody has never gone wrong in my eyes, between this, Juno and the fantastic Showtime show United States of Tara.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

13. February 25, 2010 - Dead Snow (2009)

Though this starts out with a pretty awesome zombie attack set to "In the Hall of the Mountain King," from there it moves into a typical plot involving a group of stupid teenagers renting an isolated mountain cabin. They're the characters that everyone hates - the ones that have audiences yelling at their televisions about how you're never supposed to go anywhere alone or say, "I'll be right back" in a horror movie. The way this movie was advertised was as the Nazi zombie movie. Nazi zombies? That seems morbidly awesome. However, what it's actually about is zombies who happen to be dressed in Nazi uniforms. It's such a cool idea that sadly doesn't play out nearly as well as it could have. Also, the actors playing the zombies don't (for lack of a better phrase) "play zombie." They just seem like ordinary, albeit violent and homicidal, guys who happen to be in zombie makeup.
My Netflix rating: 2 stars