My Best Friend's Exorcism | Halloween 2022

Even though the novel came out in 2016, I had never heard of My Best Friend’s Exorcism before. It sounded like it might be cute and funny. I got a little more than that.

Abby (Elsie Fisher) and Gretchen (Amiah Miller) are best friends. They are sophomores at the local Catholic high school with their other friends, Glee (Cathy Ang) and Margaret (Rachel Ogechi Kanu). When the group decides to have a girls’ weekend at a lake house owned by Margaret’s family, it is crashed by Margaret’s obnoxious boyfriend, Wallace (Clayton Royal Johnson). Wallace gives them all acid tabs and suggests they go skinny dipping. At the lake, the girls argue. Abby and Gretchen head back to the house but they come across a creepy abandoned house instead. As they investigate the house, the girls get separated. Abby, thinking that Gretchen is behind her, runs out of the house. However, Gretchen has been taken by something evil. Can Abby save her best friend or will the demon kill everyone?

Usually, when horror movies are set in the 1980s, there are some vague references but you don’t necessarily get full-on 80s nostalgia. In My Best Friend’s Exorcism, Abby and Gretchen have all sorts of 80s posters on their walls and they talk about marrying Boy George (who didn’t come out as gay until 1995). Even the super religious Lemon Brothers performing at the local mall was a throwback. (Yes! We had concerts and shows at malls!) I’m assuming all of this came out of the novel by Grady Hendrix. If so, good job Grady!

I did quite enjoy the movie. The fact that Abby refused to give up on Gretchen, despite the fact that Gretchen was being a straight up asshole to everything was awesome. No one else realized that Gretchen was acting odd but Abby saw it and did something. I even liked how different Abby and Gretchen’s families were. Gretchen’s was the “perfect” Catholic family while Abby’s was a bit neglectful. (Welcome to the 80s!) Even adding in Glee and Margaret as friends that also sort of backstabbed each other was a nice touch. But I think my favorite part may have been Christian Lemon’s (Christopher Lowell) exorcism. It actually had me laughing.

So, yeah, go check out My Best Friend’s Exorcism. It’s a light playful romp. Sure, there are a few scary parts and there is quite a bit of puke but there isn’t any gore. So, like a little Exorcist mixed with maybe a little Heathers mixed in? Demon possession that is bad for the possessed but is worse for the people around her. Just like the 80s!

Under Wraps 2 | Halloween 2022

Last year, Disney gave us the Under Wraps remake movie. This year, we get a brand new sequel. Here we go!

Marshall (Malachi Barton), Gilbert (Christian J Simon), and Amy (Sophia Hammons) are best friends. Gilbert and Amy have been spending a lot more time together since Amy works on the school newspaper and Gilbert has a scare-themed column, now that he’s no longer scared of everything. While Marshall still gets to hang out with them, he is feeling a little left out of the group. As the boys help Amy prepare for her father’s Halloween-themed wedding, they find out that a new mummy has gone missing from the museum. It turns out to be Sobek (TJ Storm), the former best friend of their mummy friend Harold (Phil Wright). Sobek is also in love with Harold’s mummy girlfriend, Rose (Rryla McIntosh), and he wants her back.

Under Wraps 2 is a weird movie. It wants to be a whole bunch of different things but it doesn’t want to follow through on any of them. First, we have the triangle between Marshall, Amy, and Gilbert. While I understand why Marshall feels left out, there isn’t any reason he couldn’t put more effort into being a part of the friendship. He steps back and gets jealous whenever Gilbert and Amy have a simple conversation. The writers should have turned this into a romantic triangle, to mirror the Sobek/Rose/Harold triangle. As it is, we have two friends that share a similar interest and the third friend being stupidly distant, even when they are doing something all three enjoy. Even if the writers didn’t want to make that trio romantic, it would have been much more enjoyable if Marshall was shown turning evil, like Sobek.

Second, we have the mummy triangle. It’s really not much of a triangle. We see a ton of Harold and Rose interacting since they are together for the entire movie. Sobek, however, doesn’t even arrive at the same location as them until the almost the end. We’re told that Harold and Sobek were best friends but there are zero indications of that. I’m honestly not sure how historians would have known they even knew each other. The same goes for Rose and Sobek. We should have gotten some sort of memento or something in their coffin/tomb/thing to show their relationships. Otherwise, it looks like Sobek is evil just to be evil.

Then there is this “buddy movie” feel. The writers wanted to make this all of the friendships have this funny light air to them. Instead, they are all just weird. We have Buzzy (Melanie Brook), who is there for no real reason but is somehow shoehorned into almost every scene as if she is the same age as the teenaged leads. Harold and Marshall have a weird sort of friendship in the movie, where Marshall is extremely emotional over what is going on with Harold yet they barely spend any time together on-screen. I understand why they wanted to make Marshall and Harold best friends. The writers need to learn the “show don’t tell” basics of writing.

With all of that said, there are some good parts of the movie that might make it worth watching. We do get another big dance scene but this time it’s both Harold and Rose dancing, not just Harold. I think that may be my favorite scene. Also, all of the scenes between Amy’s dad, Pop (Claude Knowlton), and his groom-to-be, Carl (Antonio Cayonne), are awesome. I’m sure someone somewhere will complain about the gay couple in the Disney movie but screw them. They are much more loving than most straight Disney parents. Those are pretty much the only two reasons to watch Under Wraps 2. You’d probably do better watching something else.

The Munsters | Halloween 2022

Rob Zombie - singer, songwriter, filmmaker - has rebooted the 1960s sitcom The Munsters into a 2-hour film. I watched a lot of the reruns on television when I was a kid so I was looking forward to seeing the 2022 version of The Munsters on Netflix. Did it live up to it’s predecessor? Let’s take a look.

The Count (Daniel Roebuck), an ancient vampire, is trying to find a husband for his daughter, Lily (Sheri Moon Zombie). He would prefer a rich vampire but Lily has fallen in love with Herman (Jeff Daniel Phillips), a creature formed from dead body parts put together by Dr. Henry Augustus Wolfgang (Richard Brake). Lily and Herman date for awhile before getting married. Just before their wedding, Lily’s older brother, Lester the werewolf (Tomas Boykin), gets Herman to sign over the deed to The Count’s castle to The Count’s ex-wife, Zoya (Catherine Schell). With nowhere to live in Transylvania, the family moves to Hollywood, California for a better life.

I wanted to like this movie so badly. I have fond memories of watching the old TV show as a kid. This version doesn’t have any of the heart or comedy that the series had. For one, they spend way too much time on Dr. Wolfgang getting the parts and putting Herman together. We don’t need to see him building a Frankenstein monster to know Herman is a Frankenstein monster. After that, they spend an agonizingly long time on Lily and Herman’s courtship. The movie doesn’t actually start to get good until the family travels to the United States, which is pretty much the end. While there are a handful of funny moments, there aren’t nearly enough to make up for the 110 minute runtime. As a matter of fact, my husband and I noted that there was an entire 40 minutes at the beginning that was completely unnecessary.

On top of that, none of the lead actors are strong enough to carry the movie. Zombie has this weird on-again-off-again accent for Lily. I think she was trying to replicate Yvonne De Carlo’s accent but it was terrible. Phillips was OK as Herman but he seemed to lack the good-natured heart that Fred Gwynne gave him. And don’t get me started on Roebuck. I don’t think he ever saw any version of Lily’s father. The Count is supposed to be a loving sarcastic man. Roebuck’s Count was just dull.

If you have never seen any version of The Munsters before, you might enjoy this take. However, there are some extremely dated references that you might not understand if you aren’t familiar with 1960s American sitcoms. To be honest, I would recommend you just stay away from this one. It isn’t worth your time or energy.

Lou | Halloween 2022

I’m at this weird part in my review schedule where the spooky/scary/Halloween movies haven’t really started yet. There are a few movies that fit the bill but most are in this “thriller” category, like Lou. Hopefully, Shudder will come through for me later in the month. For now, we have Netflix’s offering,

Lou (Allison Janney) is a loner who lives on a remote island with her dog, Jax. Hannah (Jurnee Smollett) and her young daughter, Vee (Ridley Asha Bateman), rent the house next door. During a major storm, Hannah’s ex, Philip (Logan Marshall-Green), kidnaps Vee. Without power or telephones, the distraught mother turns to her neighbor for help in finding her child. It’s during their trek that Hannah learns the truth behind Lou’s mysterious past and their connection.

Before I get into what I thought of the movie, I want to note my biggest problem with this movie since it’s an issue with a lot of movies nowadays. There is a large portion of the movie that takes place at night, during a severe storm. Needless to say, that means a lot of it takes place in the dark. So there are entire scenes, important scenes, where you can’t actually see what is going on. It’s really annoying.

With that said, I really enjoyed Lou. Allison Janney is such a badass. I’m used to seeing her in comedic or supporting roles. She absolutely rocked kicking ass in an action thriller. There wasn’t any point where I thought she was unbelievable. Jurnee Smollett, on the other hand, was a little annoying. As a parent, I understand the terror you feel when your child is in danger and you want to do whatever you can to save them. However, she straight up ignores everything that Lou tells her do to, putting everyone involved in danger. Girl, listen to your weirdo neighbor/landlady.

Do I think you should watch Lou? Duh, yes. If you don’t watch it for any other reason, watch it for Allison Janney being a complete and total badass at 62 years old. I really and truly hope that there is a sequel. I would watch every single movie about Lou, whether it’s about her current life or her previous life. I don’t think any of us would regret seeing more Lou.

We're All Going To The World's Fair | Halloween 2022

We’re All Going To The World’s Fair is an indie horror film that I found on HBO Max. I never heard about it before (it looks like it was only released in a small handful of theaters back in April) so I decided to check it out.

Casey (Anna Cobb) is a fairly typical teenager. She spends a lot of time in her room watching YouTube videos. One day, she decides to record a video trying the “World’s Fair Challenge.” The challenge involves chanting “I want to go to the World’s Fair” three times then wiping a bloody finger across your computer screen. After watching a video with strobing lights, the participants are supposed to start noticing changes in themselves. A few days later, she gets a message from JLB (Michael J Rogers) stating that she is in trouble. The two talk over Skype, where JLB convinced Casey to continue posting videos to document her deteriorating mental state. However, it seems like JLB thinks this is all a game. But it’s not a game to Casey.

Sadly, I didn’t understand the point of The World’s Fair. There are a lot of long, boring, drawn-out scenes that seem to have nothing to do with the plot. Scenes of Casey walking through the woods to a clearing where she talks about nothing. Or a scene of Casey filming local traffic near an AutoZone? From what I can tell, these are absolutely pointless scenes that just take up time. And while we do get a few scenes of Casey acting strangely, we don’t get anything to really connect them to the World’s Fair Challenge, other than this all happens after she did it.

I would have liked to have seen more videos of Challenge participants with a little more consistency in their “symptoms.” Sure, some people have physical changes while others have mental changes but without having all of the participants having some sort of common theme in their changes, it’s difficult to connect all of this to the Challenge. Or, if we’re going to have all of the participants have different results, give us some sort of mystical being behind the changes. Otherwise, all we seem to have are some mentally ill people making videos. It’s more sad than scary.

Unfortunately, I can’t recommend watching We’re All Going To The World’s Fair. It had a great premise with no payoff. I would love to see someone with a bigger budget or more resources remake the movie to add more eerie elements to the film. But in it’s current state, it isn’t worth the 86 minutes it takes to watch it.

Pearl | Halloween 2022

On September 16, Pearl, the prequel to X, arrived in theaters. The two movies were able to be released in the same year because Pearl was filmed in the same location immediately after X.

The year is 1918. Pearl (Mia Goth) dreams of becoming a famous dancing girl in the movies. Unfortunately, with her husband, Howard (Alistair Sewell), overseas serving in World War I, she has been forced to live on her family farm with her domineering mother, Ruth (Tandi Wright), and her infirm father (Matthew Sunderland). While in town buying medicine for her father, Pearl meets the man responsible for showing the movies at the cinema. The two take a liking to each other and the projectionist (David Corenswet) promises to take her overseas to be a famous dancer. But Pearl has an audition with her sister-in-law, Mitsy (Emma Jenkins-Purro), to be a dancing girl in a traveling church show. If only life would go the way Pearl wants…

I found Pearl much more interesting than X. In X, I felt like we never got a reason why Pearl was the way she was. She was just an extremely horny old woman who murdered people when she didn’t get what she wanted. The closest thing we got to a reason for her behavior was that Howard kept refusing sex due to his weak heart. In Pearl, however, we get to see her mental deterioration and the abuse she endured from her mother. It actually made a bit of sense when she started her murder spree. I wonder if watching Pearl before X would make X a better movie.

If you are into slasher-type films, you will probably enjoy Pearl. Not only is Goth amazing as poor Pearl, Wright is absolutely terrifying as her abusive mother. I also tip my hat to Sunderland, who could only use his eyes to convey how he felt at any given moment. If the third film in the series, Maxxxine, is as good as Pearl, this series may go down as one of the best horror trilogies around.

Hocus Pocus 2

After 29 years, we finally have a sequel to Hocus Pocus. Please note, if Hocus Pocus isn’t one of your favorite Halloween movies, you might have something wrong with you.

Hocus Pocus 2 begins in 1653 Salem, when a young Winifred Sanderson (Taylor Henderson) has just turned 16. Reverend Trask (Tony Hale) insists that she should be married. When she refuses, the Reverend tries to take her sisters, Mary (Nina Kitchen) and Sarah (Juju Journey Brener), away from her. The sisters manage to escape to the forbidden forest behind the town. There the trio meets a mysterious witch (Hannah Waddingham) who recognizes them as sister witches and gives Winifred her beloved spellbook. Fast forward to 2022, where we meet Becca (Whitney Peak) on her 16th birthday. She has had a falling out with her friend Cassie (Lilia Buckingham) but plans on performing her annual birthday ritual with her other friend, Izzy (Belissa Escobedo). The girls are given a black flame candle by Gilbert (Sam Richardson), a magic shop owner and fan of the Sanderson sisters. They light the black flame candle at their ritual, bringing the Sandersons back to life once more.

The original Hocus Pocus is one of my husband’s favorite movies. In 2018, a book was released telling more of the story of the Sanderson sisters. After reading the book, my husband was really looking forward to the movie sequel. He was not disappointed.

I thought Hocus Pocus 2 was a pretty good sequel to the original. Where the original movie was all about normal kids trying to defeat a trio of witches, this one goes further by letting Becca dabble in the occult. Needless to say, that does make the ending a little predictable but I won’t give it away here. Let’s just say that I highly enjoyed the change from the mundane to the magical.

While the songs that Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker perform this time around aren’t quite as iconic as the “I Put A Spell On You” performance from the original, all of the songs were still very entertaining. My favorite was the cover of Blondie’s “One Way Or Another.” Though “The Witches Are Back,” a parody of Elton John’s “The Bitch Is Back” is the theme song of the movie. There’s even a scene during the credits of the sisters recording the song. Speaking of credits scenes, make sure you stick around after the credits. There is a post-credit scene to watch.

If you liked the original Hocus Pocus, I think you will find enjoyment in the sequel. There are some inside jokes and references that make watching the sequel fun. Personally, I liked Mary flying on two Roombas instead of a broom, the way she rode a vacuum cleaner instead of a broom in the original. Only the Roombas are way more useful this time!

The Best and Worst Halloween Movies of 2021

Alas, we have come to the end of Spooky Season. While that does mean that the Halloween movie reviews have ended, it also marks the beginning of Christmas movie reviews. There is something like 135 new Christmas movies this year between all of the various channels. I won’t be able to watch all of those but I will be watching a lot. (I think it’s like 95?) Before the Christmas spirit descends, let’s take one last look at the best and the worst Halloween movies of 2021

The Best

5. The Medium
4. Fear Street Trilogy
3. Squid Game
2. Midnight Mass
1. Nightbooks

Honorable mentions: Till Death, Malignant, Horror Noire

The Worst

5. Lamb
4. Hypnotic
3. We Need To Do Something
2. Prey
1. In The Earth

Dishonorable mentions: The Guilty, Intrusion, There’s Someone Inside Your House

Let me know your favorite and least favorite scary movies this year!

Horror Noire | 2021 Halloween Movies

Anthology series, especially horror anthology series, vary a lot. There are way too many terrible horror anthologies out there. Thankfully, the few black horror anthology series I have seen have been amazing. Let’s look at the latest one.

Horror Noire is a six-story anthology show on Shudder. “The Lake” stars Lucifer’s Leslie-Ann Brandt as a woman who moves into a lakeside house. She is told not to swim in the lake but she doesn’t listen. “Brand of Evil” gives us Brandon Mychal Smith as an artist commissioned to draw some mystical brand artwork for a mysterious client. “Bride Before You” is the story of a new bride (Lenora Crichlow) tasked with giving her husband a son. When she has difficulties conceiving, she turns to a magical old woman. “Fugue State” has Malcolm Barrett becoming a victim of a cult. “Daddy” turns a insecure father (Luke James) against himself. “Sundown” twists racist sundown towns into the supernatural.

These are all amazing stories. I don’t think there was one that I didn’t enjoy. My favorites were “Sundown,” “Brand of Evil,” and “Bride Before You.” I love that all of these stories took stereotypical black issues and twisted them into something new. Yes, for the most part, they all still held onto their racist core but they took that history and gave it a supernatural life.

I absolutely recommend watching Horror Noire. The show definitely needs more eyes on it. And since each story is only about 20 minutes long, if you don’t like one particular story, another will be starting soon!

Nobody Sleeps In The Woods Tonight 2 | 2021 Halloween Movies

In 2020, Netflix released a Polish supernatural horror film titled Nobody Sleeps In The Woods Tonight. The movie had all of the right things - good acting, a decent plot, and an interesting twist that made you wonder where the characters would go. Thankfully, the sequel came out recently and I am dying to see what they do.

Despite being a police officer, Adas (Mateusz Wieclawe) is a rather meek person. When he arrives at the station, Adas finds both Zosia (Julia Wieniawa-Narkiewicz) and the brothers locked up. As they wait for a more capable unit to arrive, Sergeant Waldek (Andrzej Grabowski) takes Zosia back to the house to figure out what exactly happened in the massacre. At the house, the meteorite transforms Zosia into one of the monsters. Is this the end for humanity?

Nobody Sleeps In The Woods Tonight 2 takes a different turn from not only the original but most horror movies in general. Like most horror movies, the first one was about the victims, how they died, and how they tried to get away from the murderers. This time the movie focuses more on the monsters. I thought it was an interesting change of pace.

This is a difficult one to recommend. I liked it but there are a lot of people that thought it was too slow and didn’t focus on the killing as much. Which is true. It is a little slow and there aren’t a ton of murders. However, I thought that seeing the monster relationships was different. If you are into that sort of thing, you’ll probably like this sequel. (You should watch the first for context though.) But if you are looking for something more bloody, this isn’t where you will find it.