Scariest Movies Part II

Continuing from Part I yesterday... Ava and I have rounded up a dozen or so of our favorite horror movies from a multitude of sub-genres.  We each picked a movie for each category without consulting one another-- so you get double the scary recommendations!

#8: Best Monster Movie

Kat:                                                        Ava:

 

 Kat: The Cave (2005): Really scary creature-feature, more thriller-esque than horror.  Honorable mentions: The Village, Jeepers Creepers.  A monster movie I still really want to see this October is The Wolfman with Anthony Hopkins-- it looks really good!

Ava: Red Riding Hood (2011): Amanda Seyfried (Kat-- she of the humongous blue eyes) stars as Red Riding Hood in this cool dark romance movie.  Also has Gary Oldman as a werewolf hunter.

#9: Best Serial Killer Movie

Kat:                                                         Ava:

Ava: Se7en (1995): Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt... this is a seriously disturbing film, but really well done, we both agree.  Honorable mention: The Silence of the Lambs!

Kat: The Silence of the Lambs (1991): Hannibal Lector is my favorite serial killer.  Weird thing to have a favorite of, but it's true.

#10: Best Scary Movie We've Seen Recently

Kat:                                                             Ava:

Kat: Fright Night (2011): Really liked this Lost Boys-esque remake.  It's lots of fun and Colin Farrell in it-- therefore, it could hardly go wrong with me.

Ava: 30 Days of Night (2007): Residents of Barrow, Alaska are trapped in a month-long darkness.  Vampires come to prey.  These vampires are not the Twilight variety.  Like, at all.

#11: Best Scary Movie Series/ Franchise

Kat:                                                 Ava:

 

Ava: Final Destination (5 movies, starting in 2000): Characters who have "cheated death" are forced to reckon with it again. 

Kat: A Nightmare on Elm Street (9 movies-- the first one came out in 1984): Freddy Krueger has made me afraid to go to sleep on multiple occasions over the years.  I like the original best-- it has a young Johnny Depp as Nancy's boyfriend.

#12: Most Absolutely Terrifying Movie We've Ever Seen in Our Entire Freakin' Lives

Kat:                                                        Ava:

Kat: The Haunting in Connecticut (2009): I think I may have sobbed (just a little bit) while watching this movie.  It's incredibly frightening, has a ton of the dreaded "jump" moments, and is generally incredibly disturbing.  I will probably never watch it again.  Honorable mentions: Insidious, Mirrors.

Ava: Mirrors (2008): Kiefer Sutherland is a nightguard assigned to the ruin of an old mall where, years ago, a tragic fire left terrible scars.  Kat-- The mall is maybe the most horrifyingly creepy setting ever used in a horror movie!

  

Talkin' Bout Scary Movies Part I: Kat & Ava Pick the Best of the Best

 What's my favorite part of Halloween-- the costumes, the candy, or the nice autumn weather?  Actually, none of the above.  In my house, the month of October is marked by late-nighters watching Chiller channel specials and SyFi movie marathons, by plenty of screams and popcorn being thrown. Yep, I confess to being a major horror movie buff.  I've seen them all: the chilling, the gory, the downright ridiculous.  In fact, the only person I know who has seen more horror movies than me has done me the most spectacular honor of appearing as a guest blogger at A Myriad of Books today... *drumroll*... Could we have a warm round of applause for my most delightful sister, Ava?

Yep, she's herrree.

Today and tomorrow, we're excited to be posting about our favorite scary and Halloween movies.  But, since a gory movie is far from everyone's cup of tea (my cup of tea included) and not everyone wants to be kept awake at night by the threat of ghosts lurking in their bedroom, we've decided to split our movie recommendations up into **categories**.  To make things extra interesting, Ava and I didn't consult each other on our choices for each category-- I sent her the list of movie categories and we each picked our favs separately.  (Note: If we both picked the same movie for a category, then consider it to be doubly-recommended.)  The results are in, and they are *spooky voice* verrryy interesting...

#1: Best Spooky or Sorta-Scary Movie: 

Kat:                                                                Ava: 

Kat: Poltergeist (1982):  Poltergeist is the classic spooky movie.  It's not so scary or otherwise inappropriate that kids can't enjoy it as well, yet there are some definitely creepy moments.  The one that made me afraid to look under the bed for years: the scene where the creepy Raggedy Ann doll comes alive in the little boy's bedroom.  Um, yikes!

Ava: Carrie (1976): Based on the Stephen King book with the same name.

#2: Best Vampire Movie (Horror or Otherwise):

Kat:                                                                Ava:  

Ava: The Lost Boys (1987).

Kat: The Lost Boys (1987): This movie is such a favorite in our family.  These vampires are pretty, alright (ie teenage Kiefer Sutherland!), but they are far from sparkly and peace-loving.  This movie is classic 80s with a throwback feel, an awesome 80s soundtrack, and a lot of great humor.  Honorable mentions: Let Me In; Fright Night (2011).

#3: Best Haunted House Movie:

Kat:                                      Ava:

Kat: The Amityville Horror (2005): This remake of the old Amityville is probably my favorite haunted house movie.  It revolves around a very eerie premise and is absolutely packed with creepy happenings and moments of terrible, exhilarating suspense.  This house has to got be the most haunted cinema house of all time.  My honorable mention is The Messengers.  

Ava: The Shining (1980): Best haunted hotel movie.  My honorable mention: Insidious.

#4: Best Halloween Movie for Kids:

Kat:                                  Ava:

Ava: Beetlejuice (1988): Cult classic hilarious and feel-good spooky movie by Tim Burton.  My honorable mention-- The Nightmare Before Christmas!

Kat: Tim Burton's A Nightmare Before Christmas (1993): Awesome movie, catchy soundtrack, beautiful animation, and an incredible cast of characters.  All of Tim Burton's stop-motion animation movies are great (like Corpse Bride, a runner-up), but this one is a cult classic.  So, so good!  Another honorable mention: Coraline.  And I also love the book Coraline.

#5: Best POV or Mockumentary Horror Movie:

Kat:                                                     Ava:

  

Kat: Paranormal Activity 3 (2011): All of the films in the Paranormal series are fantastic sleepover movies.  In my opinion, #3 takes the cake: it is absolutely the scariest and most compulsively-watchable of the bunch and the way the cameras were used is absolutely genius.  Creepiest moment: when the babysitter is sitting at a table in the kitchen and a ghostly sheet is standing silently and sinisterly behind her-- we viewers scream, and the camera pans away, leaving us in suspenseful agony!  Strange coincidence that we both picked the same movie from the series as the best.

Ava: Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)-- Once again, we are in uncanny agreement. 

#6: Worst/Most Ridiculous Scary Movie You've Ever Seen:

Kat:                                                           Ava:

Ava: The Devil Inside (2012): Bad version of the better Anthony Hopkins horror movie, The Rite.

Kat: The Blair Witch Project (1999): I guess I am that one person who really was disappointed by The Blair Witch.  I know, it's supposed to be a classic, but I thought it was a let-down.  The ending... I mean, come on!  I did see the sequel and thought it, unusually enough, to be much better.

#7: Best Ghostly/Supernatural Movie:

Kat:                                                 Ava:

Kat: The Woman in Black (2012): As Ava well knows, this movie scared me half to death!  Movies with plenty of "jumpy" scenes and vengeful ghosts are absolutely the most frightening kind to me (I startle easily and am a little superstitious).  Ava and one of our friends actually played a very nasty, but very funny, prank on me which is related to this film... but it's too long to go into here.  Ask me in the comments if you really want to know.  ;)  The book on which the movie is based is very creepy, too, and a good quick read for October.  Honorable mentions: Insidious, The Shining, The Haunting, Dark Remains, Stephen King's Bag of Bones.  This is the genre which scares me the most, but also my favorite. 

Ava: The Others (2001):  Freaky movie with Nicole Kidman.  My honorable mention: An American Haunting.

That wraps up all the categories for today!  Tomorrow, we'll pick our favorite movies about monsters, serial killers, the best scary movie franchise series, and you'll get to find out what horror movies are the Absolutely Most Terrifying Movies We've Ever Seen In Our Lives.  And I know exactly what movie I'm going to pick... Hope you have enjoyed our post today, and we'd love to hear what scary movies you love or hate!

HP and the Deathly Hallows Premiere Night

So, it was epic, no?  Painfully epic, heart-breakingly epic, wonderfully epic.  The general epic-ness of the entire film, paired with the huge anticipation for the movie's release and the mad-house feel of the event itself-- SO many people attended, and so many of them had donned Hogwarts uniforms and wizarding hats-- has me rather at a loss for words.  A certain cliche tells us a picture is worth much more than a couple paragraphs of my babbling, so...

These pictures are very pixel-y, so they're worth maybe 6 or 7 hundred words each.  That's me with the goofy hat, and that's my sister Pinky (she of the infamous guest reviews).  This is just before the premiere-- we didn't actually get to take any at the theaters because, well, it was dark.

These are my nails in Hogwarts colors after Pinky finished with them... you can't tell in this horrible picture, but the letters spell out HOGWARTS.  Pinky tried to do Hallows symbols on my thumbs, but they came out more like very smudged triangles. ;)  Ah, well, she gets ten points to her house for effort.

As for the movie itself, I was impressed by how closely the first half stuck to the original material-- some of it was almost word-for-word dialogue from the seventh book.  Towards the final fight scenes and the duel between Harry and Voldemort, the movie veered away from the book a good bit (what was with HP and Voldy flinging themselves out the castle window to the pointy spires below??)  But overall, this was definitely the most action-paced Harry Potter movie ever, and the most... wait for it... epic!  It's incredibly sad to think that there will never be another Harry Potter midnight premiere, or another late-night Books-A-Million party in anticipation of the next book.  (Though you'd think I would have come to terms with that by now.)  But really, I just can't wait to watch all the movies and reread all the books again!

The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Released: December 10th, 2011
Runtime: 115 mins                                                       Return to magic. Return to hope. Return to Narnia.
Rating: PG

Synopsis: Lucy and Edmund Pevensie return to Narnia with their cousin Eustace where they meet up with Prince Caspian for a trip across the sea aboard the royal ship The Dawn Treader. Along the way they encounter dragons, dwarves, merfolk, and a band of lost warriors before reaching the edge of the world.           

My Thoughts: 

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the third movie based on CS Lewis's classic children's fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia. The Narnia series are are remembered by many readers, including myself, as being some of the first fantasy books they ever read. I had high expectations for this movie, given that The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe was so enchanting, and the sequel Prince Caspian was a wonderful film in its own right, with more adrenaline and battles than the first movie.  I expected Dawn Treader to be more of the same, but was somewhat disappointed.

Dawn Treader had a different director than the first two movies, and it definitely showed.  The film was very loyal to the book, while still giving the story a definite thematic feel.  3-D seems to have become the name of the movie theater game over the last few years-- Narnia is, of course, being shown in 3-D and 2-D.  I haven't seen many movies where 3-D actually enhanced the viewing experience worth paying extra for the 3-D glasses. (The only two that comes to mind are Coraline and Avatar.)  Here I cannot recommend 2-D enough.  Seeing Narnia in 3-D sounded like a must-- I was thinking of the snowbound peaks and sprawling forests of The Wardrobe, even the castles and hills of Prince Caspian.  Dawn Treader had none of these beautiful landscapes, being set for the most part on the Dawn Treader herself, and little need for 3-D besides.

I was glad to see all of the Narnia actors back on board for this movie, including Ben Barnes (Caspian), who I scarcely recognized.  The boy who played Eustace Scrubbs (the Pevensies' cousin) was so truly obnoxious-- he fit the part perfectly, and my sister compared him several times to an eleven year old Draco Malfoy.  The plot itself was disjointed and came across as sort of random on the big screen-- somewhere during the translation the purpose of CS Lewis's epic was mostly lost.  There was plenty of adventure on the various Narnian islands, plenty of (albeit somewhat predictable) plot twists, plenty of self-revelation, and many appearances made by both Aslan and the White Witch.  Yes, two movies after she actually kicked the bucket, actress Tilda Swinton is still appearing as the White Witch.  Now, I loved her as the White Witch in the first movie-- she was everything anyone could have hoped for the Witch and better.  But I do feel like her presence in the movies is getting a bit redundant at this point.

The whole Narnia series is threaded through with Christian messages, Bible parallels, and moral 'lessons' intended for readers.  Previously the movies have only hinted at their religious origins, concentrating on the magic and detail of Aslan and his world rather than the intended meaning behind it all.  These themes are definitely much more noticeable in Dawn Treader, beyond the usual 'battle of good and evil'.  Aslan as good as said "Yeah, I'm Jesus," and the 'green mist' and the temptations it cast on the heroes were very obviously portrayed as being of the biblical Devil.  If that's not your cup of tea, then I recommend skipping this movie, 'nough said.

All in all, I think Dawn Treader is a movie best enjoyed by children or fans of the Narnia book series (because of the nature of its predictable plot), and most definitely one best viewed without paying extra for 3-D.  I give the movie a 3/5, because it was enjoyable and closely followed the book, but the pitfalls were too numerous to make this latest Narnia movie as memorable as the last two.     

My Rating:  3/5

See the movie trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrJQDPpIK6I      

Book-to-Movie Review: Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part I

Yes, that's right, another review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!  I know everyone must be sick to death of reading reviews of the movie by now, but how could I possibly pass up adding my two cents?   If you haven't made it to the theaters yet, then don't worry: No spoilers here!

First I just want to say that I was very happy to see how closely the movie followed the first half of the book.  over the last few movies-- four and six, particularly, they've cut out a lot of important scenes and whole plot lines.  But the new HP follows the seventh book almost religiously-- I couldn't think of any major thing they left out beyond just a few little details that I wouldn't have expected to make it to the screen anyway.

The whole HP series is an emotional roller coaster-- when you're in the theater and it feels like you're right there, in the characters' world, it's impossible to come away unaffected by the drama and the (yes, it's cliche-time) magic.  The books are the same way, and that's why the Harry Potter movies are such magnificent adaptations: they bring viewers the same feeling of being transported into another, far more dangerous and enthralling world, something which I think few movies really manage to do.  Number seven certainly lived up to that legacy: in the theater, I gasped loudly; whispered excitedly (and obnoxiously) to the people on either side of me; at one point I jumped out of my seat in alarm; and during the second-to-last scene, I came very close to crying.  (if you've read the books or seen the movie, then I'm sure you know which scene I'm talking about.)  The story of the Three Brothers as told by Hermione was incredible-- I felt like Tim Burton had suddenly and briefly taken over as director, so eerie and faerie tale-like were the shadow figures and their seamless transition into the film. 

As for the characters, I was very excited to see more of the more minor characters from the books who don't often get featured onscreen.  Helena Bonaham Carter was amazing as Bellatrix, as by 'amazing', yes, I do mean 'crazy as a loon', but in a good, entirely terrifying way.  All the Death Eaters were somewhat how I pictured them and formed quite a macabre crew altogether-- especially Yaxley, he has a much bigger role in the new movie.  Voldemort had much more screen time than ever before and he definitely owned all of his scenes.  I'm relieved, because during the first few movies I wasn't sure if Ralph Fiennes was going to quite live up to the Dark Lord of the books-- looks like I was definitely wrong!  Umbridge was great; Snape was great-- wish we could have seen more of him.  (Completely Irrelevant/ Tiny Spoiler Alert: My sister is convinced that the leader of the Snatchers who picks up the trio in the forest scene closely resembles Billie Joe Armstrong, the lead singer of Green Day.  I somewhat agree... but I think it's mostly the eye make-up.  Did anyone else notice this, or are we both crazy? :) )

And the trio-- Harry, Ron, and Hermione...there's always the question of which one of them stole the show the most, and this time around I think it is definitely Hermione.  Emma Watson has grown so much as an actress from the bushy-haired little girl from the Sorceror's Stone.  She has totally become Hermione in every way for me: she is the strong, intelligent, brave, and beautiful witch who has always been my favorite character of the series.  I look forward to seeing what roles Emma Watson takes on next, and I must say I love her new pixie cut. Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint were none too shabby either-- I particularly love the scene with Harry and Hermione slow-dancing in the tent.


All in all, I do not hesitate to say that The Deathly Hallows Part I is the best Harry Potter movie, cinematic and quality wise-- a high honor, considering how phenomenal Half-Blood Prince was.  The film is just under two hours and thirty minutes long, but is one of those rare movies when you don't even think to check your watch while you're in the theaters.  I'm so glad that the director decided to split the last movie into two parts a while back, because I cannot imagine how they could have possibly told this brilliant and beautiful story within a three hour time frame for a single movie.  And now those of us who feel like we've spent half our lives waiting for the next book or movie to be released can spend eight more months eagerly anticipating Part II. 

Overall Rating:  5/5