Horror

New Kojima Productions just dropped!

Looks like they’re bringing back the spirit of Silent Hills P.T.

These are the movies that I have seen already:

Zombi

The Gates of Hell aka City of the Living Dead

Don’t Torture A Duckling

Demonia

The Beyond aka 7 Doors of Death

Do you recommend any other movies?

cross-posted from: https://atomicpoet.org/objects/d329878f-a68d-44c2-bd84-8fc1275e70f1

Clown in a Cornfield (2025) is a horror movie about a teenage girl who moves to a small town that’s split between old-timers and high school kids—then gets confronted by a clown.

She falls in with a group of friends, and just as life starts to settle, the town’s history comes roaring back in the worst way possible. A clown mascot named Frendo steps out of the cornfields, and suddenly those kids are being hunted down one by one.

The reason I watched this is because I often have this mentality: one plus one equals two. Take one horror premise—Children of the Corn—combine it with It. What do you get? Clown in a Cornfield. So why not go hog wild, right?

Wildly enough, this didn’t start from some B-movie producer’s imagination. It was a novel first—Adam Cesare’s 2020 book—and now it’s an adaptation. The director is Eli Craig, the same guy who made Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, one of the best horror spoofs I’ve ever seen. Incredibly witty and clever. I hoped to see that same wit here. Spoiler alert: no, you don’t.

The core problem is that it tries too hard to do the self-aware teen thing, where characters seem to know they’re in a horror movie. But Scream already did this decades ago—much better. You’re not going to top Scream. And by now, the self-aware horror movie is as much of a cliché as the movies it lampoons.

Where it really goes wrong is the characters. They’re stock, and being self-aware doesn’t excuse that. You’ve got the Black kid who dies first, the snobby popular girls, the rich bad boy, the hick. Later in the film they try to throw a curveball, but it doesn’t land—by then the movie's lurching towards the end, and the relationships aren’t developed enough.

If you’re going to do something like this, the movie has to be clever. This one isn’t. The stock characters never break out of their molds.

That said, Will Sasso as the sheriff was excellent—the highlight of the film for me, though he doesn’t get much screen time.

The clown costumes, designed from Keith Lau’s concept art, were fun and creepy enough to make me giggle. A few kills, like the bench-press scene, were imaginative. But that’s about as good as it got.

The shoot had its quirks. Filmed in Winnipeg in fall 2023, the crew had to use blowtorches to melt snow after a blizzard so it would still look like autumn. Craig stacked the cast and crew with Canadians after moving to North Vancouver and even taking Canadian citizenship, so the whole thing has a half-Hollywood, half-Winnipeg vibe.

The marketing leaned into the gimmick. A week before wide release, they did drive-in-only previews with author signings and posters. Then came the “Frendo Across America” semi-truck tour, rolling up to landmarks with the clown mascot in tow.

It’s not a bad film—there are plenty worse with the same tropes. But because this was Eli Craig, I had high expectations. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil proved he could twist horror with wit. Here, those expectations just weren’t met.

Do I recommend it? Meh. Not a total waste of time, but you could watch better movies.

Where to watch:

Prime Video: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0GVJCCJDSJI8PS821VSPHOHTQU

@movies@piefed.social

IMDB (7.6) | Wikipedia | RottenTomatoes (94% | 85%)

I went into this one blind. Just read the synopsis about children going missing and I thought the poster was intriguing (thankfully I didn't notice the "From the Director of Barbarian").

Overall, I thought this was a good horror/thriller. I liked the multiple perspective and the inclusion of "slice of life" type elements in each piece. I haven't seen any movies with Julia Garner, but I thought she did a great job. Josh Brolin was great too, but I thought he would be good. I do wish there was more Julia Garner.

The film could do with some editing. The Weapons title and that one scene with Brolin seemed random. Some of the later stage scenes (which explain what happened) weren't that engaging. I do think the film could be cut down a bit.

The basic setup was a bit difficult to buy into. Considering what happened (a massive news event in any country) and that there was video involved, one would think the authorities would come up with a working theory before Brolin's character figured it out. The kid's parents borderline disappearing (not going to their job) would be noticed immediately.

I am not sure what to think of the antagonist. The acting was solid, but something about the introduction and framing of the character didn't seem to fit with the flow of the movie. Weapons is framed as a somewhat serious (internally coherent?) movie, yet the antagonist just appears.

There is definitely a black comedy element in the movie. The ending scenes were almost comical, like a under the table parody of zombie movies in the vein of Dawn of the Dead (2004). Also a clear a nod to the Blair Witch Project.

All in all, a worthy experience. Perhaps leaning more towards the thriller side of things as opposed to horror. If you haven't seen it and you've come this far, just watch it without watching the trailer and getting any other information (even though there is a spoiler tag, I try to minimize spoilers in any review).

We're getting closer to October and my favorite holiday. Just wondering if any of you have some movies you watch yearly or any Halloween related habits. Personally one I watch every year early October is Trick r Treat. I just find it gets Halloween so well.

I went into this one with minimal knowledge about the movie. I've had people online and IRL mention that it was a fun horror experience. I didn't have any real expectations, which I generally consider to be a good thing.

It is definitely worth watching Sinners. It's a good, original horror movie that I think has a measure of cross-over appeal with people who don't like horror. The soundtrack is top notch, it includes some classic blues songs, but also an intense original score with some incredible tracks. The setting/setup is novel and refreshing and I liked how the heavy emphasis on the music introduces a fusion of genres of sorts. I enjoyed it even though I am generally not a fan of musicals.

That being said I do think Sinners is a victim of it's own success. It does so many things well, that the weak parts stand out much more. It's a stylish movie with great cinematography, good looking costumes, an original story setup and an ending that arguably offers something different.

So when you have rather unsatisfying action scenes, strange character behaviour and seemingly pointless parts it becomes more noticeable than in a lower budget horror movie.

Some of the action scenes just didn't work well; I found them to be distracting, it's not a matter of realism or lack of thereof. I didn't really understand the behaviour and motivation of the group that was left in the dancehall after the patrons left (should they have all turned when they left at the same time?). I thought the ending scene with the racists coming to the dancehall and getting killed by the remaining brother was out of place.

That being said the weak parts don't undermine the experience of watching Sinners. I am curious if there will be any other movies set in this universe (more so than a direct sequel). The epilogue made me wonder what Smoke and Mary were up to all these years.

cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/post/1239331

cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/post/1221492

cross-posted from: https://piefed.blahaj.zone/post/250396

As The Life of Chuck hits cinemas, here's a look at the finest movies to emerge from the books of the horror maestro

So I only watched Episode 01; I wasn't impressed at all, I am debating whether to watch episode 02.

I don't at all mind writers/authors developing new directions/concepts based on an existing franchise base. I really enjoyed Aliens: Phalanx, even thought it had massive flaws, but the world building was engaging and the pace was good.

That being said E01 comes off as a somewhat generic, "made for streaming" series adaption of the Alien world. Alien: Romulus on the other hand combined "modern sensibilities" with the classical retro-futuristic canon of the alien universe.

Perhaps it's too early to judge, but I feel there is going to be a large YA-focus to this series (kids in adult bodies). Aliens: Phalanx was also very heavy on YA tropes, but IMO it had other things going for it to compensate.

I didn't feel any tension or dread in the first episode. Some stuff was happening I didn't feel like caring.

I will probably watch E02 to see if it gets better, but I am not getting my hopes up.

EDIT: E01 is 7.8 on and E02 is 8.0 on IMDB; no wonder I always got the feeling that series rating are always heavily inflated.

A man moves into a new home that has supernatural forces lurking in the shadows. As dark entities start to threaten him, his brave dog comes to the rescue.

cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/post/1143683