Top 5 Horror Films of 2017

It's been a while since I've done a movie review post. So I thought I'd tell you guys about my favorite top 5 horror films of 2017.

5. A Dark Song

"A Dark Song" is a one woman's journey into her own dark psyche to find answers after her young son is brutally killed.

A trip through hell, to reach a final conclusion that I didn't see coming, but it makes total sense. The visuals are neat, there are some really creepy things that happen in the house when shit hits the fan, and I can't recommend it enough. It heavily features religious iconography, so keep that in mind while you watch it. It's got a lot of Christian esotericism in it so themes of angels and demons run throughout.

4. The Void

A strange cult has trapped people in a hospital that is about to shut down. Tentacles and monsters soon attack, and the Sheriff is forced to work with two strangers to try to save his nurse wife from an unimaginable evil.

I reviewed "The Void" here. It makes the list because it's a fun creature feature that's a mix of "Silent Hill" and "Hellraiser," two franchises that I absolutely adore.

Also, it would've been higher on the list, if it HAD BETTER DAMN LIGHTING!

3. Stake Land II: The Stakelander

It's the vampire apocalypse. Martin is on a quest to find Mister, a legendary vampire hunter who saved his life in the first movie and trained him to fight and stay alive in desperate times.

"The Stakelander" has a wonderful western movie feel to it. Vamp cult comes to town, kills Martin's family, and sends him on a quest for revenge. Highly underrated. If you love vampires and vampire hunter stories, this is a must see!

2. Cult of Chucky

Chucky is, back, and this time he's picking off patients of a mental hospital, one by one, while he patiently waits for Andy to come for him.

I have to admit, I wasn't a fan of the last three Chucky films. So I was pleasantly surprised when I enjoyed the hell out of "Cult of Chucky." All the wit, wry gallows humor, and clever viciousness of Chucky is back, in full swing, for one hell of a fun ride!

1. IT

An evil alien takes the visage of a creepy clown and terrorizes local kids of the Losers Club. They fight back, and find a way to win...for now.

To be honest, I wasn't sure if I was going to like "IT" when I saw the trailer.  It looked like another mainstream heartless horror remake.

I was wrong.

It has a lot of heart, and the kid actors are top notch! This one is at the top of my list because I thoroughly enjoyed it, it did everything right, including adding new things to the old familiar story. While nothing surprised me, and overall it didn't scare me, there were a few suspenseful scenes in it that were completely unique, and I LOVED it for that.

Plus, the kid playing little Georgie was AMAZING! And Bill Skarsgard is a wonderful Pennywise. Love his version of the monster. Can't wait to see the next movie.

Honorable mentions go to The Babysitter and Raw. 

"The Babysitter" is a fun little romp into horror slasher land. Evil babysitter worships Satan and wants to sacrifice the kid for power or whatever.

"Raw" is a good French thriller. I don't really consider "Raw" to be a horror film. More like a cannibal family drama. It's not as gross as people said it would be, but then again, maybe I have a stronger stomach for that sort of stuff than most people do lol

What about you? What were your favorite horror films that came out in 2017?

The Void: Hell Needs Better Lighting!

"The Void" is pretty darn good.  It's a really, really tight movie with a solid plot, strong actors, and an interesting take on Lovecraftian horror. I liked it, a lot. But, for as fun as it is, it is by far not a perfect movie. There are some action sequences that are difficult to follow, mainly due to poor lighting and shitty camera handling. (They call those guys camera wranglers, right?)

Before I go into the technicalities, let's stop for a brief moment to cover the plot, shall we?

A cop comes across a hurt junkie and takes him to a run down hospital where his estranged wife works as a nurse. Supplies are low; the hospital is about to shut down for good. A very pregnant girl and her grandfather are waiting to see the doctor. And then...all hell breaks loose as one of the nurses loses her shit and stabs a patient in the eye, then proceeds to cut off her face. Yep. It's one of THOSE movies. SPLATTERPUNK BITCHES!

The hospital soon that becomes a supernatural death maze of doom as it is surrounded by cultists without, and hideous deformed monsters within.

The characters don't get along, and they are forced to worked together and try to stop the eldritch horrors from being summoned into our reality.

I for one, appreciated that. It made them feel more real. 

Some of their actions are surprising, but in a good way. Their intent is not telegraphed from the moment they are on-screen, and yet their actions are believable. That is hard to pull off (well, for some directors at least...).

In good Lovecraft form, anything and everything that can go wrong, does. Spectacularly.

"The Void" wastes no time whipping out the bad guys, the cultists and the monsters from Beyond Space and Time.

Too bad they didn't bother to film them longer while on-set...

The camera lingers long enough of these dudes to effectively pull off the male gaze shot...
Not that they do that. They're not sexy cultists. This isn't that type of movie. 

"The Void" has some technical issues...which really frustrated me because they didn't pause the camera longer on the monsters before it started shaking and moving around like a spazz as the characters ran.

 I couldn't make out their features, and I'm a huge practical effects monster fiend, so that kinda sucked.

TOO DARK! TOO DARK! Get them some more maglights! Stat! 

Honestly, my only complaint about this film is that it was too dark- it was hard to make out what the monsters were supposed to be. I kept asking myself, "Wait... what the fuck am I looking at? What is that supposed to be? Could they just wait five fucking seconds so that we can get a decent glimpse at it before everyone runs around screaming?"

I still have no fucking clue what this is... 

Seriously,  rarely did we get a glimpse of any of them for more than a few seconds. As a monster lover, that disappointed me. Too much shaky cam, not enough lighting.

OK sure, this is well lit, but the camera doesn't stay on it long enough for your brain to register what you are even looking at...which is tentacle face. Yep. That nurse has a bad case of tentacle face. It's fatal. Poor thing. 

In some respects, it was like watching "Feast." Good idea, neat monsters, but too damn dark and the camera was too fucking twitchy to follow what was happening at times.

You spend that much time making monsters with practical effects? I want to see them damn it! I want to see your hard work. Show it off like the movie whores you are! You know you want to. 😘

What are we all staring at? Anyone have a fucking clue? Because I got nothing.

My personal complaints aside, "The Void" was well executed and a fun romp through Lovecraft territory, tentacles and cold uncaring universe and all. 

Go check it out, you won't regret it. Trust me on this one.