Six horror movies I watched in the last week
It feels a bit ridiculous to take time off during *gestures broadly towards everything* but that’s what I’ve been doing this week — spending my days going jogging and watching tons of TV and movies. In particular, I’ve watched several horror movies that I’m gonna briefly tell you about!
Pledge (2019) — it was okay!
This is about three socially awkward guys who want to rush a fraternity in college but are turned away by every frat but one, and — dun dun DUN — the hazing rituals get very violent, very quickly, and the three pals have to try to escape. The movie has at least one scene that made me very queasy, and if the movie intended to do anything with character arcs or the toxic masculinity inherent in the Greek system, it kind of forgets about that partway through and it becomes just a killfest. Still, it was fine.
Z (2020) — very creepy but ultimately unsatisfying!
This one’s about Beth (Keegan Connor Tracy), whose son has an imaginary friend named “Z,” and he claims Z is the one responsible for making other kids afraid of him, for causing mischief, and even hurting a kid very badly. But then Beth discovers that when she was a child, she had a misbehaving imaginary friend named Z!!! We don’t actually see a lot of Z, but the few glimpses we get are frickin’ terrifying, and my main issue is that the climax is disappointing. That said, Keegan Connor Tracy gives a really good performance!
Swallow (2020) — great!
This is another one that isn’t for the faint of heart — I really liked it, but Craig had to leave the room and go do other stuff in the office. It’s about Hunter (Haley Bennett), an isolated housewife who is clearly seen only as a sex object and baby incubator by her husband and his family. So in order to feel some semblance of control in her life, she decides to start swallowing small objects, starting with a marble but moving on to pointier things like pushpins. I’m not entirely sure this movie counts as a horror — there’s some body horror to be sure, but I considered this to mostly be a drama. Still, really loved it and thought Bennett was excellent.
Homewrecker (2020) — I liked it!
A Canadian horror/comedy that clearly cost about seven dollars to make, this one’s about Michelle, a newlywed who strikes up an awkward friendship with an older woman named Linda. When Michelle goes over to Linda’s house, it’s clear Linda is obsessed with her and has no intention of letting her leave. It’s not the best or most well-acted movie out there, but I had a good time watching this one (and it’s a tight 76 minutes long).
Come To Daddy (2020) — Not For Kats!
I wanted to like this one, but it just didn’t land with me, unfortunately. It’s about Norval (Elijah Wood) who goes to visit his long-estranged father in Oregon after receiving a letter from him. Things start out well but then they begin to argue, and his dad has a heart attack and dies. Then weird shit starts happening! I appreciated the weird tone of this movie and I really respect the risks that Wood takes with his projects. I don’t think this movie was bad by any means, it just wasn’t my thing.
The Rental (2020) — SO CLOSE to being a really good movie!
IF ONLY this movie hadn’t been a horror movie, it would have been so good!! In Dave Franco’s directorial debut, this one’s about two couples (Dan Stevens and Alison Brie, and Jeremy Allen White and Sheila Vand) who go to an oceanside AirBNB for the weekend, and it turns out the dynamics between all of them is more complicated than they would like. The performances were great and I was really invested in finding out how these characters would move forward after the weekend — but then there’s a completely unnecessary slasher plot tacked onto it where it turns out none of the character stuff mattered anyway. I liked this movie a lot until the last 15 minutes or so, and then I was disappointed.
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That’s all for me today, gorgeous! Talk to you soon.
Love,
Kat
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