Review: The Babysitter (2017)

“Things get messy when you make a deal with the devil.”
– Bee

SYNOPSIS: The events of one evening take an unexpected turn for the worst for a young boy trying to spy on his babysitter. – via IMDB

Ah! This movie! This is so my cup of tea, and I enjoyed the hell out of this. Chop, I am so with you on this one, it’s great! Everything works.

The cast is really what makes this – they all seem to be having an absolute blast, and that comes through. I think that Judah Lewis was fantastic as Cole, and Samara Weaving was great as Bee. She totally nailed down that sort of girl next door thing but with an extremely healthy dose of crazy. The two of them play off one another really well, and I loved watching them together. She really was like the best babysitter, and you could understand how he saw her as probably his best friend, even if it meant she had to stay his babysitter.

I would like to thank McG and co from the bottom of my heart for a shirtless Robbie Amell for essentially the whole movie. Yes, for science, and your contribution is immensely appreciated. So. Much. He was hilarious to boot, too, but still. Science.

Okay, back to the movie, right? Sorry, can’t help it, he was distracting in the movie, too. I think the humour for The Babysitter was spot on, and definitely had me laugh quite a few times. This movie totally embraces how crazy it is, and it just works. I really loved the little cuts in the movie to show certain events (the pocket knife, Cole’s plans, etc). I also think that things were just pretty weird all round. The Babysitter is a load of fun, and just goes for it every step of the way.

Anyway, as you can tell I had a great time with The Babysitter. If you are into horror comedy, this should totally work for you. It’s a total blast and it has some fantastic moments and silly characters, with a solid score and it looks stylish, too. Absolutely worth the watch!

Review: Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015)

“It’s the zombie apocalypse! Come on, we’re scouts! We’re trained for this!”
– Augie

SYNOPSIS: Three scouts, on the eve of their last camp-out, discover the true meaning of friendship when they attempt to save their town from a zombie outbreak. – via IMDB

Decided to give this a go recently, and I must say, I was not disappointed. Mind you check your brain at the door though, otherwise this is going to be a waste, and do be in the mood for a silly comedy, because that is exactly what Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse is going to deliver. That, and crude humour, but littered throughout that crude humour are some real gems, too.

Anyway, I thought that the cast was good. Sheridan, Miller, and Morgan all work together really well, and definitely pull together those three awkward friends thing. Dumont did her thing, too, but also really came across as the token female, which is also a little annoying.

The movie has a lot of crazy stuff going for it, too, such as the trampoline escape, and how can you not be intrigued by zombie cats? Really? Anyway, the pacing is a little off at times, but for the most part, this movie rolls along just fine and has a ton of ludicrous scenes that work with this. Scouts Guide is completely aware of the type of movie it is, and doesn’t put on airs to be more. It just wants to have fun, and by goodness, that is exactly what it does.

Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse is juvenile and crass and absolutely ridiculous, and yet it works for a silly comedy, and it entertains, that cannot be denied. Worth the watch and a lot of fun, provided you check your brain at the door.

Review: Tucker and Dale vs Evil (2010)

“You want a killer hillbilly? I’ll show you a killer hillbilly.”
– Dale

SYNOPSIS: Affable hillbillies Tucker and Dale are on vacation at their dilapidated mountain cabin when they are mistaken for murderers by a group of preppy college students. – via IMDB

I remember when this came out, I was dead set against watching it. One part was being contrary about watching a recommendation from someone I was a) peeved with and b) I considered to have sketchy taste. I did not feel like a stoner movie (his forte). Ultimately I was roped into this by my now-husband, and I was pleased I was. What I thought this movie was and what it turned out to be? Two totally different things. Horror comedy. Why didn’t someone just open with that? You know I would have been all over that!

Tucker and Dale vs Evil is conscious of what it is, and owns it. Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine are perfectly cast as hapless hillbillies Tucker and Dale. Like, really. The movie gets right into the plot, no dilly dallying, and I am good with that. The run-time is also perfect, so before anything (read: humour) gets the chance to become stretched out and stale, the movie is over, leaving you with a bundle of laughs and pretty damn good comedy throughout. There are so many memorable lines that will stay with you, and silly little scenes.

The movie is smarter than you initially think, but still not necessarily a sharp comedy, if that makes sense? It is a bundle of fun, and genuinely gets you laughing at times. Unfortunately, it is not perfect. The final act is a bit messy, and the humour not as fast of quick or as frequent as before, and comes across as trying too hard a little. Not to say it isn’t funny anymore, it is just not as hilarious as earlier.

Tucker and Dale vs Evil was an unexpected gem for me back in the day, and a movie I still reap quite a bit of enjoyment from. If you are into horror comedy, this certainly leans more on the comedy side, though it has plenty of gore to keep the bloodlust of a horror viewer at bay. I would definitely recommend giving this a spin, especially if you are in for a good laugh, misunderstood hillbillies, and some icky deaths.

I would like to say that the trailer is a spoiler, so if you have not seen this, skip the trailer and just go straight on to the movie. Trust me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1t8OZn_uhE

Rapid Review: Suburban Gothic (2014)

SYNOPSIS: Raymond has a prestigious MBA, but he can’t find work. He can channel the paranormal, but chatting with a cute girl mystifies him. Kicked out of his big city apartment, Raymond returns home to his overbearing mother, ex-jock father, and beer-bellied classmates. But when a vengeful ghost terrorizes the small town, the city-boy recruits Becca, a badass local bartender, to solve the mystery of the spirit threatening everyone’s lives. – via IMDB

I have been waiting for Suburban Gothic for a while. After watching the trailers, it ticked all the boxes for me for what I would like in a movie, highest up being a little quirky. So watching this while on holiday, I was extremely happy to find that I enjoyed it in execution, too. It is really strange, which might throw some people, but it is handled well. You can see that everyone is having a total blast. The movie wants to be a horror comedy, and like I have complained before, most movies in this genre will forget to do both, and focus on one. That was certainly the case here, once again, when all the focus went with the comedic side of things. There was cheese laced throughout this, but it worked (in my opinion) and I had fun – Suburban Gothic managed to be hilarious, even though there were one or two hiccups along the way in terms of pacing. There was so much bizarre stuff going down, and I can honestly say that I detested Ray Wise’s Donald. A seriously reprehensible man, even though I understand the stereotypes of characters were grossly deliberate and overblown. The biggest sell for me on this film was, undeniably, Matthew Gray Gubler. He is just awesome, and he can do peculiar and eccentric so well. One cannot miss that the movie was shot on a budget,  but all things considered I think they did they best they could with it, and it never got to that ridiculously dodgy effects part (though don’t get me wrong, some were so cheesy you had to laugh). Remember, if the story is good for me, I am not too concerned about the effects. Dennings and Gubler managed to work well together, and it was enjoyable to watch them strut their stuff. I think the characters and their antics are far more entertaining to watch, and take front and centre when it comes to the film – the horror and ghosts took a backseat, and I was fine with that. Richard Bates Jr handles his material very well and makes it work, flaws and all. This movie knows what it is, and sticks to that most of the time. The characters were so crazy here, and everything was done in the extreme. Obviously I liked it, and so did my other half, but I think this movie just might be too odd and out there for most people, but that is alright – a little gem for us crazies then 😛

Rapid Review: The Cottage (2008)

“That’s chlorophyll for you.” 
– David

SYNOPSIS: In a remote part of the countryside, a bungled kidnapping turns into a living nightmare for four central characters when they cross paths with a psychopathic farmer and all hell breaks loose. – via IMDB

So, Eric highly recommended this for me, and who was I to argue? I am a big fan of Andy Serkis and would probably watch him in anything. Anyway, when Eric told me to check out this horror comedy of Serkis, naturally I was all over it. Popping it in, relaxing, I was ready. I had a few laughs thrown through it, and I think this would appeal to viewers who have a slightly darker or more morbid sense of humour than your casual moviegoer. Serkis does a wonderful job portraying David, who is mean, angry, smarter than his brother or silly partner, but who definitely is in a bad place because his partners-in-crime are not criminals. They just suck. Reece Shearsmith was very entertaining as David’s whiny and useless lump of a brother, who really is one of the biggest reasons that things start to go wrong. His mottephobia really had me going, especially with the exchanges between him and David. Steven O’Donnell was perfectly cast as the guileless Andrew, who seems to care for his sister in a bizarre way, but was prepared to get involved with the plan to have her “kidnapped” and ransomed. Jennifer Ellison amused and irritated me in equal measure. For one, I liked that Tracey took no crap whatsoever, and had a mouth like a sailor, but sometimes instead of coming across as strong and a bit bitchy but self-assured, she just annoyed me, carrying on too much and performing and what not. Ellison is not a particularly grand actress, which I think counted against the flick here. I cannot explain it adequately. The changing relationship between David and Peter was also worth watching. One must note, however, that this movie is not without flaws. Sometimes there is too much lull, sometimes some dialogue gets iffy, Ellison’s character can work on your nerves and the flow was sometimes interrupted by silly things that didn’t gel properly. The first half of the movie and the second half are almost two totally different stories, though they are pulled together eventually (albeit weakly if you really want to nitpick). At any rate, the score accompanies the film well, the laughs are dark but entertaining, it was shot well, and sticks to its genre and what it is working with, making it a pretty strong B-movie with a trippy third act.

Rapid Review: Housebound (2014)

“I only take the little things.”
– Eugene

SYNOPSIS: Kylie Bucknell is forced to return to the house she grew up in when the court places her on home detention. Her punishment is made all the more unbearable by the fact she has to live there with her mother Miriam – a well-intentioned blabbermouth who’s convinced that the house is haunted. Kylie dismisses Miriam’s superstitions as nothing more than a distraction from a life occupied by boiled vegetables & small-town gossip. However, when she too becomes privy to unsettling whispers & strange bumps in the night, she begins to wonder whether she’s inherited her overactive imagination, or if the house is in fact possessed by a hostile spirit who’s not particularly thrilled about her return. – via IMDB

On a different note, Ryan Lampp, who played the most awesome Eugene, got Eric and myself all excited on Twitter!
#Eugene

I have to say, Eric has been jumping up and down about this for a while, and I knew that it had to be good if it came in that highly recommended from him – It won’t let It watch crap. Anyhow, lined this up to check out with absolutely no idea what I was going to watch,  but saw about five minutes before starting that it was a horror comedy. Now look, I like horror comedy, though more often than not it fails on a few vital fronts. This can definitely not be said for Housebound. I had an absolute blast with this. It alternated between the horror and comedy aspects perfectly, and it had some good and proper laughs stashed away in it. I was initially worried about the fact that it is 106 minutes long, which might be pushing it for this genre, but that never once occurs to you when watching. Housebound was a quirky, funny watch that draws you in, that needs to be watched. What I liked about the movie is it knew what it wanted to be from the off, so there was none of this pussyfooting around while trying to find itself, which was refreshing. The cast is something I had fun with, too, and the conversations/arguments between Kylie and Amos. Seriously, who knew your parole officer would double as your paranormal investigator? Kylie, too, was a character that I wanted to slap and praise in equal measure. She was a rude, nasty bitch, but on the other hand didn’t scare easily, which was cool. It was sort of like the haunting had to beg her before getting under her skin. Also, this gave me one of my favourite characters I have seen in a long time: Eugene. I won’t say too much more, but if you have seen this, I am sure you have to give credit where credit is due! While there is nothing necessarily new about Housebound, the execution is just awesome and well worth checking out. Anyway, Housebound is a confident film that has been directed wonderfully, and was something new for me. I enjoyed it, and would highly recommend checking it out if you have not done so already. Seems the little independent films are coming out tops lately!