Mike’s Scary Movie Challenge: Elevators, Mumblecore, & Rob Zombie
We’re not even a week into October yet and I’m already behind on my scary movie challenge, so it looks like we’re off to a pretty great start.
This first few films have taken me all the way from the mumbling minds of the Duplass brothers to the twisted visions of Rob Zombie, and it’s definitely been a mixed bag of results.
So let’s dive in, shall we?
#1 Devil (October 1st — Netflix)
What happens when the devil traps five strangers in a tight space and starts killing them off one by one?
You get a surprisingly fun mystery thriller that will make you think before stepping in an elevator again.
Director John Erick Dowdle does a great job building tension between this seemingly random group of strangers and I had a blast trying to figure out which one of the was behind the madness.
Devil was recommended to me by almost everyone who knew I was doing this challenge, and I can definitely see why.
#2 Baghead (October 2nd — Amazon)
You know when your parents tell you they’re not mad, they’re just disappointed?
Well that pretty much sums up exactly how I feel about this movie.
The Duplass brothers tease us with plenty of horror elements throughout Baghead, but they never really commit and it basically turns out to be a movie about a guy who wants to bang Greta Gerwig.
And last time I checked this was Mike’s Scary Movie Challenge, not Mike’s Low Budget Dramedy Challenge.
I’m not really sure what I was expecting from the masters of mumblecore, but I definitely didn’t get the horror movie I was looking for.
#3 House Of 1,000 Corpses (October 5th — Amazon)
Before yesterday I had never seen any of Rob Zombie’s horror films, so I decided the best place to start was with his directorial debut.
I was immediately sucked in by Sid Haig’s performance as Captain Spaulding, an insanely creepy clown who’s obsessed with murder and John Wayne.
Unfortunately he basically disappears from the movie after the first 20 minutes and it pretty much devolves into senseless torture porn after that.
If you like your horror movies extra bloody then there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy House Of 1,000 Corpses. But the ending is a bit of a mess and it’s not just because of the gallons of gore.
#4 The Devil’s Rejects (October 5th — Shudder)
There are some things you just can’t unsee, and The Devil’s Rejects is one of those things.
Rob Zombie brings back some of the murderous hillbillies we met in House Of 1,000 Corpses and somehow finds a way to crank up the gore and violence.
I know. I didn’t think it was possible either.
In fact, this movie was so upsetting at times that I actually had to take a couple of breaks to take my mind off things for a bit. It’s that brutal.
The bottom line is The Devil’s Rejects is one of the most fucked up movies I’ve ever seen, and I can’t decide if that’s a good or a bad thing.
