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Hypnotic (2023)

Didn't see it coming

What I love about this movie is that I thought I had it figured out a little over halfway through (I was sure of it), but 30 minutes after that point I realized I had no idea what was actually going on.

And I loved it. It's refreshing to experience a movie that was three layers out of how I thought the plot would conclude. I truly never saw the ending coming.

Technically, there could've been three different endings and I can see to a degree how it could be a bit too much (which is why I rated it an 8 instead of a 10. Nevertheless, I was entertained. Also wish there was much more of Jackie Earle Haley in the movie.

Smile (2022)

I loved it except for 2 things

I loved that I had no idea what this entity was for a good chunk of the movie. Where it comes from, why it's here.

I loved the pacing, characters, and the uniqueness of this story. I watch A LOT of supernatural horror from various cultures and I hadn't yet come across a plot where an entity or curse passes from one victim to the other by the necessitation of someone bearing witness to suicides. For this I was intrigued.

I also loved the underlying theme about trauma and healing. We heal when we face the trauma, not by slapping a fake smile, not by trying to leave it all behind without appropriate interventions, and not by becoming a workaholic.

I loved the storyline between the sisters and how they each dealt with the trauma of their mother's physical abuse and mental illness. I enjoyed the lead character facing her mother and relieving herself from the guilt of not saving the woman who continually abused her.

I was WITH the movie until....

1. The cop getting the curse and witnessing the lead's suicide at the end was PREDICTABLE! I called it 2/3 through the movie so when it did end up happening I was disappointed. I woulda better enjoyed not seeing the ending coming. With the trauma theme and subplots explored above, the filmmakers could've created a seriously juicy and unpredictable ending. Maybe they ran out of time and/or budget but this ending was not awesome.

2. They showed the entity! And it looked ridiculous, particularly the bumbling giant mother (this reminded me of Bill Skaargard's IT movies) and especially that naked giant with 5 mouths opening the woman's mouth and climbing in. We know it's a possession that happens, why cheapen the experience by showing this creature that although disturbing looking, made me roll my eyes and yawn. That woulda been better left to the viewer's imagination. Case in point, one of the things that made BIRD BOX work so well is that you never actually see what the creatures look like. They intimate with mysterious drawings of the creatures , but leave it to our imagination.

Had it not been for the predictable ending and the entity revealed, I prolly woulda given this movie a 10.

You know what? After writing this review and realizing how much material they had to play with that they didn't use to create a kickass ending, I'm thinking of reducing my score to a 7. (It was an 8 at the time of submitting this review).

Master (2022)

Hated the final 20 min

You know how there are some movies that leave the end open for so many questions for further exploration and that post-movie inquiry builds on the satisfaction gained from a satisfyingly well-done flick?

This wasn't that kind of movie.

And it could've been.

I was with this movie...up until the final 20 min.

Overall, the pace was solid, a little slow at parts, but the cinematography and music made up for when it did lag a bit. The build up of suspense - great.

But the conclusion was rushed and left me scratching my head in a dissatisfying way.

The whole witch storyline didn't need to be there (for it watered down what coulda been an incredible movie that does social drama/commentary and horror very well) and added to the lack of focus for what this movie is essentially supposed to be about.

Not sure if the filmmakers knew what it's really supposed to be about, though.

It felt like supernatural horror tryna meet social drama with a big fat side of psychological mystery.

Like for the psychological mystery element.....Jasmine was a sleepwalker, so did that explain several of the red-dominant scenes she was in? Kinda like, she feels it's real but those scenes weren't actually? And if so, was she inflicting the scratches on herself, like how she told the story about peeing on herself in the Never Have I Ever scene? And if so, then was her suicide brought on by exacerbated mental health challenges? Or do we just lazily blame this all on the maybe witch character?

I could very well be reading into all of this. And that's part of the problem - the movie kept it too open so that I CAN read into it like I did.

I applaud the filmmakers for attempting to tackle all of these different genres and angles in one movie, for being ambitious and telling a story.

It didn't play out well though.

And since there was already so much in the movie, they could've left out introducing the possibility of Liv's character not being who she said she is and doing it so late in the movie. They've could've gotten away with this if her "big reveal" led to a strong ending, but it didn't - it was like a sub storyline that went nowhere.

Too many characters to focus on and none of them get the justice they deserve (feel free to read that more than one way).

My lingering questions:

• Was Jasmine's suicide psychological, supernatural, or a combo of both?

• What REALLY happened to the Margaret character and why was there that one photo of her portrayed as a white woman?

• How is Liv's possible lie (no time for the film to explore this with the effort it deserves since that topic was introduced so late in the movie though it tried to with Gail's monologue at the party) tied to Jasmine's death?

I have other questions but those were my top 3.

And yes, I can absolutely create meta theories and meaning based on the social drama elements alone: Racism includes psychological terror and it can also feel like some dark entity has it out for a group of people. Makes you question your reality. Experience it enough and you might just take your forever exit from the stage of life. People, like Gail, are committed to be the change makers within institutions egregiously purporting harm. Other people, like Jasmine, want to exit for other reasons, namely to protect their mental and emotional health. Jasmine stayed and it killed her. Gail ended up leaving anyway when she realizes she's "just a maid" and not really a master as her title states.

I have other interpretations but they do nothing for the resolution of the characters whom I developed a strong interest in because the movie did such a good job creating interest in those characters.

This is similar to how I felt about the recent Candyman remake. Sacrificed the completion of the character arcs and their individual storylines by tryin too hard to make a social message.

I love social messages, and not at the expense of storytelling.

I loved this movie until the final 20 min. The ending was just plain sloppy.

American Horror Stories: Facelift (2022)

Manny Coto needs to stop

Starts off promising. Then becomes a dumpster fire. Something I've noticed in this season is almost every episode has a character explaining at the end why everything went down the way it did with these lame reveals. It's just lazy writing. Show, don't tell. That, and of all the tributaries this episode could've gone down, THAT was the choice Coto made? I rolled my eyes and actually got angry that I wasted the first 35 min of the episode. I'm see a trend. Promising at the beginning, piquing my interest and curiosity for the next big chunk, then CRASH LANDING with one of the actors revealing all the secrets of the show. Coto really doesn't know how to conclude his episodes. SMDH.

Malignant (2021)

I was done after 30 min

I had high hopes. They were deflated after 25 min of this mess. The first 10 min caught my attention, but Annabelle Wallis cannot carry a movie. I came back to try and watch more a few hours later, but I couldn't tolerate it after 2 more minutes. My time is too precious.

Bajo cero (2021)

Solid smart entertainment

Very well-paced. Believable action scenes. Solid storyline. Good acting. Another example why I'll take a subtitled "foreign" movie over the average American attempt at similar filmmaking.

Fatale (2020)

Shame on whomever created this junk

A predictable 2-D hot mess of a movie. Filled with reflections of the writer's/director's own internalized racism. In this day and age you're gonna make a movie about a crazy white woman not only destroying the lives of, but literally killing, multiple black men. Really? If you gonna go with there with this subject matter, you better do it thoughtfully. Thoughtful - this movie wasn't. And the two black women (one who only appeared for a few minutes) you choose to put in the film are reflections of white supremacist beauty standards and shady characters.

::::::::SIGH::::::::

P. S. The final 2 minutes are NOT redeeming. I feel ashamed for the creator of this crap.

Life (2017)

The ending :)

I was going to give this a 6/7 and found my attention wandering when the lifeboats began their journeys. Thought it was going to be a typical earth-is-saved-and-all-is-well situation.

To my absolute surprise and delight, it wasn't! Did not see the ending coming and for that, I am grateful. I laughed with utter glee when the reveal occurred. Thank you for NOT wrapping this movie up in a nice little bow.

Gone Girl (2014)

Ending was not satisfying

I was a 9/10 throughout the movie...up until the final 7 minutes. Yeah it's a commentary on herd mentality, social media, the gullibility of the masses. Acting was spectacular. Pacing had me hooked. Guessing what is going on for the entire runtime. Villain-switching. All that. Wonderful.

But, for the love of God, I was itching for that woman to get her comeuppance. When she became "trapped" in NPH's home, I was like, "Yes! He's going to control her now and she'll get a taste of what she's been dishing. Or if the thieving couple came out the woodwork at the end and revealed her lies. Or if the detective poked an undeniable hole during the FBI questioning where these lemmings would see through Amy's B.S. Any one of these turnarounds would've had this movie be a 10 for me. Alas, that gratification never came.

So this movie was more about the twists and turns of the journey because the destination was utter garbage.

The Dustwalker (2019)

I'll tell what this movie is good for.

It's good for playing in the background (like white noise!) while you're doing something else more interesting.

Jusqu'au déclin (2020)

Solid entertainment all-around

I enjoyed this all the way through. Solid storyline. Entertaining. I enjoyed it.

Knives Out (2019)

Now THIS is how you do a whodunnit movie!

It's rare that I watch these kinds of movies and I am genuinely shocked at the big reveal. First, there was more than reveal and secondly, my jaw literally dropped.

Well done well done well done.

The Curse of La Llorona (2019)

Unbelievably predictable

I don't understand why the marketing team chose to reveal so much about the storyline. You know the entire movie from watching the trailer. Despite this, I wanted to give the movie the benefit of the doubt.

I was rolling my eyes by minute 7.

Tried. Stale. Boring.

I chose to value my time and stopped watching.

The Haunting of Hill House (2018)

What a drag

I'm halfway thru the season and OMG what a bore! This show had an average 8.7 viewer rating so I went in with too high of an expectation.

I was let down quickly. Adult Nellie's ugly cries and sleep paralysis screams got old real fast. The dialogue is boring.

I'm only giving it a 3 because the children twins are just too cute and the origin story of Theo's "germophobia" was interesting.

Show moves at a snail's pace and the minimalist music score makes it move by even slower. I really wanted to like this show but it wasn't a good sign when I was looking at the clock to see how much longer episode 1 was going to go on for. And this was only 25 minutes into that episode.

It's not a good sign also when I'm doing internet searches while watching a show or movie. Not invested and disengaged.

Gidseltagningen (2017)

Captivating, however...

I almost gave this series a 9. Solid Character development. Absolute investment in the show. Suspenseful. Riveting. Full of twists I didn't see coming. Including the reason behind the hostage.

And comes the big but...two of them actually.

No restitution for Mark and Jim. My heart sunk. The closeout of season 1 was massively disappointing. I woulda dropped my score down to a 6. I didn't because for the entire season, I wanted to see the show through. As an entertaining thriller with wonderful writing and great acting, this show has it.

As a POC, I was offended by the "hippie nonsense" remark about Dreamcatchers made by the arrogant smug white guy. Wow. Typical white ignorance and disregard for a legitimate Native American tradition by flippantly calling it something hippie. Don't get me started on the white supremacy and racism run in this series.

Child's Play (2019)

Annoying and senseless

Thought the premise at the beginning was cool and interesting. Very different take from the original.

I liked the first 20-30 min of this movie. And I agreed with the killing of the loser mom's cheating boyfriend.

Then..the kid got annoying. And dumb AF choices. Even unlikeable. His acting sucked once the killings began.

Killing the detective's mom was unnecessary. Senseless. The cat? Too much. The detective. Horrible. Senselessly killing likeable characters doesn't help build rapport with the audience.

Then this crap turned into gratuitous gore for the sake of voluminous bloodshed.

Chucky wasn't interesting, not like in the first movie. Brad Dourif's Chucky was HILARIOUS AF. Had so much charm. Dourif breathed some juicy life into that Chucky. And the original Chucky was driven by a solid motive for his bloodshed. This remake's Chucky was pretty much a clingy codependent stalker.

I lost all investment in this movie after the Kaslan car bloodshed in the parking lot. Didn't care what happened to Andy. Nor the mom. Nor the friends. I'm watching it now as I type this review. Oh wait! They didn't end up offing the detective. Ok, I'll turn my 3 stars into 4.

What a disappointment nonetheless.

Space Force (2020)

Fantastic show, except for the annoying daughter

I loved this show. Lots of LOL moments. So ridiculous and so funny. I pretty much had a smile on my face through the entire first season. They also left it at a great cliffhanger.

Everyone was perfectly cast, except for that annoying-a** daughter. Ugh. I'd a probably given the show 10 stars if they had cast that character with someone who was actually funny, someone who could do broody while also having charm and injecting humor into their scenes. I know teenagers generally suck, but damn, this character needs an overhaul.

Scream Queens (2015)

It has its moments, ultimately a taxing drain

Season 1 had its moments. I made it through all that season's episodes, surprisingly. I was antsy and wished they get on with it. 45 min and 12 episodes were too long and too much. 30 min eps woulda kept me more engaged and kept the show tight. I enjoyed the laughs, particularly from Glen Powell (HILARIOUS, a lovable asshole) and Niecy Nash. Jamie Lee Curtis was well played. Keke Palmer did a good job. The big reveal for the murderer at the end was a "big whoop whatever" experience for me. Emma Roberts was just unbelievably annoying. She's a one-note character of the whine and yell high-pitched voice variety.

Season 2 - I had had it by episode 3. I skipped the rest of the episodes and watched 1/3 of the season finale by skimming different sections of the episode. I was just beyond disinterested and just didn't care enough to find out what had happened.

After all is said and done, I felt the show to be a drag and a drain. Emma Roberts was annoying AF. Way way way too much dialogue and the overall pace just didn't work for me.

If I could sum up this show in one sentence, it would be "Jesus Christ, get on with it already."

The Heartbreak Kid (2007)

Started off promising then fizzles hard

I loved the first 1/3 of this movie. The jokes and outlandish humor had me laughing out loud and smiling for a while. But then it went downhill and got stale. I found Ben Stiller's character to be frustratingly annoying. And the ending was "give me a friggin' break." I know it's a comedy but his incessant lying was a drag. After all that b**sh** for most of the movie, he's still gonna make the same choice. It was supposed to be comedic but the execution was trash.

Similar feeling about Malin Akerman's character. At the hotel her antics got annoying rather than funny.

The thing with this movie is the filmmakers couldn't keep the main characters charming and authentically humorous for the duration.

I did not feel good by the end. I hated Stiller's character.

Outer Banks (2020)

Very easy and entertaining show to binge watch

I was skeptical about this show during the first 5 minutes of episode 1. I thought "OMG this is gonna be another lame show about privileged ignorant kids and their drama."

But the tides turned by minute 10. It's not what I thought it was and 20 min in I thought "Jeezus they've covered so much already and I'm only halfway through the first episode."

I'm now on episode 4. The characters and storyline are entertaining and I dig the way they flip the lid on who the haves and the have-nots are. I also appreciate the demographic of the gal who the boys swoon over. (My mind woulda been blown if they also flipped the body type of the "it girls.") Only so much progressiveness can be had in one show I guess.

Overall, easy show to get through each episode, amusing, and very entertaining. I def found my heart racing during a number of scenes. That's a good sign. I'm invested in the show.

If you have a couple days to spare, check this show out. I was very skeptical at first, but now I'm sold on it.

Sweetheart (2019)

Captivated

Kiersey Clemons kept my attention for the entire movie. The woman can act. The music (particularly during the creature scenes) was right on and reminded me of John Carpenter '80s horror music. Loved it. That final song "All Over Again" during the closing credits is amazing. Too bad the song's not on YouTube nor Spotify. The pacing of the movie is well-done. Kept my interest. I even jumped during one of the jump scare scenes. Loved the movie. I watched the first 30 min before I had to go out and was very much looking forward to finish watching when I returned home.

Only reason I didn't give it a 10 is because I wished they woulda shown less of the monster. No more mystery when I saw its face in broad daylight and its entire physique underwater. If the creature were shadow- and silhouette-bound as in the first 1/3 of the movie, I woulda given it 10 stars.

Sex Sent Me to the ER (2013)

Annoying Editing

This show has promise but the editing is not good. I could only get through one episode. 3 stories in one episode where each storyline is dragged out way too goddamn long. I found myself agitated and saying "come on just get to the point already." The first time they did it it's like "ok cool, I'm at the edge of my seat." But then they do it 4 more times after that and I just got mad and lost interest, finding the people in the situations annoying when it's of no fault of their own, it's the editing!

Creeped Out (2017)

Refreshing and pleasantly surprised

This is my very first IMDB review. I have read many a review over the years but never have I been moved enough to get an account and rate. I felt compelled to review this series b/c this show does not deserve anything less than an 8 collective rating.

I felt compelled because of how incredibly impressed I am with the originality and execution. One episode after another after another continued to amaze me. Another reviewer said it's Goosebumps meets Black Mirror. For some episodes I agree, but not all episodes make a commentary on tech. The ones that do are done well btw.

A more accurate description of this series is Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark? meets The Outer Limits and Twilight Zone. There's another kid-focused horror series on Netflix "Two Sentence Horror Stories", but that series is GARBAGE. The acting and execution on that show were consistently disappointing and I couldn't get past 2 or 3 episodes.

NOT THE CASE WITH "CREEPED OUT." So easy to binge watch. So many novel twists and unexpected endings. I was skeptical at first because I wondered how entertained and "scared" I would be by some kid show. One word - VERY. Some of these eps are DARK. I even got nervous after I woke up mid of the night b/c the images from one of the episodes were flashing through my mind and had me on edge as I attempted to delve back into slumber.

What's cool about this show is that it also provides moral warnings for questionable behavior without being preachy. Stuff like, don't press all the elevator buttons you obnoxious child or else this might happen to you. Or don't take your parents for granted.

I am so happy to have found this show. I was invested in the characters, the plot, and the outcomes. So many times I found myself saying "Come on kid! Seriously?! Don't make THAT choice." For a series to repeatedly accomplish this level of investment in 24 min of runtime is to be feverishly commended.

I also appreciate the diverse international cast and locations.

My favorite episodes in order and why:

From Season 1: Trolled - eerie conclusion I absolutely love The Traveler - love the delivery of the ep's lesson Bravery Badge - love their take on zombies Shed No Fear - warmed my heart the message of friendship and family

Season 2: I actually liked every episode from this season so this was hard to pick. However...

One More Minute - cliffhanger, and devastating when you think about the ramification of the main character's actions

No Filter - Eerie AF!!! The ending had me like "Jesus...after all that!"

The Many Place - love the ending and how it turned out to be not what I originally thought. I thought it was going to be about a haunted hotel and it wasn't!

Help - love the character arcs and the use of tech. That little girl! I appreciated how my feelings towards her shifted drastically within 25 min.

Honorable Mentions:

Itchy - I found the main characters wildly annoying but I put this on my list bc I've never seen a story that features lice in this way. LICE!

The Takedown - surprise ending and love the lesson around greed and the take on be careful what you wish for.

Kindlesticks (season 1) - different take on babysitter scary stories theme. I did not see the ending coming. I actually played it back so I could wrap my mind around what just happened.

In sum, I LOVE THIS SHOW. Big time hats off to the writers for putting in serious thought into each episode.