31 Scary Movie Mini Reviews 2024 – Part 1

Posted by sean

Every October I watch and write a mini review for 31 scary movies. Since we’re half way through October, here are the first 15 reviews:

Scary Movie Mini Review #1: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) Directed by Tim Burton

Tim Burton’s 1988 film Beetlejuice is not a great movie, but its weird story and inventive visuals have captured viewers imaginations for decades, and I’ll admit that I enjoy it myself, though it’s always felt a bit shallow. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is just as shallow, but also feels like multiple sequels crammed into one. There are at least three subplots in this movie that could have easily been their own more clearly defined stories. I suspect this script started out as a TV series that was then condensed into a feature.

Tim Burton is at peak Tim Burton here and clearly having a non-Disney blast. The visuals are striking and it’s nice to see so many practical makeup effects and sets. It’s also fun to have talents like Catherine O’Hara, Winona Ryder and Jenna Ortega riffing off each other, though it’s sometimes difficult to understand their motivations. The rich artistic yuppie vs mortality-obsessed goth dynamic from the first movie has become confusingly blurred with these characters as they’ve aged. Keaton’s Beetlejuice performance has actually gotten better with time. He’s great.

I was ready to give up on Beetlejuice Beetlejuice as just another nostalgic cash grab crammed with too much plot, but then the third act happened. Burton goes so bonkers here that I had to admit he was doing something special, something more than just another fan pandering sequel. I only wish he could have paired this ultra-silly, anything goes cinematic energy with more disciplined storytelling.

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31 Scary Movie Mini Reviews 2023 – Part 2

Posted by sean

Every year in October I try to watch and write about a scary movie for each day of the month. Here are my last 16 Scary Movie Mini Reviews for October 2023. Enjoy!

Scary Movie Mini Review #16: One Cut of The Dead (2017) Directed by Shin’ichirō Ueda

Here’s a fun one from Japan: filmmakers making a low budget zombie movie run into real zombies? This movie requires zero spoilers to fully enjoy so I won’t give you any. But if you don’t mind some splattery zombie gore, it’s a fun ride. That’s it. That’s all I can say. Watch it, it’s awesome! (I should watch more zero spoilers movies because writing the reviews for them is so easy.)

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31 Scary Movie Mini Reviews – Part 2

Posted by sean

This October, to celebrate Halloween, I’m writing 31 mini reviews of scary movies. Here are the final 16:

Scary Movie Mini Review #16: The Midnight Hour (1985)
Directed by Jack Bender

This 80s made-for-TV movie is a bit of everything: part Stephen King small town horror, part creature feature, part teen comedy, part… musical? Seeing LeVar Burton dance the Get Dead dance has to be seen to be believed. An ancient curse comes back to haunt a small New England town. Our teen heroes accidentally trigger this curse then have to resolve it on Halloween night, all while throwing a wild Halloween house party and dealing with an increasing hoard of zombies, vampires and ghosts. This is all way more fun than scary, think a Halloween version of  the original Jumanji, and the 80s styles and zany makeup and costumes alone make it worth sitting through some of the more boring sections. The gravestones are made of flimsy wood, the wolf man looks more like a thin guy in an ape suit, the filmmakers can’t decide if the movie is set in the 80s or 50s—a good chunk of the movie is just pretending to be American Graffiti—but it’s still a lot of fun to watch and an endearing Halloween treat.

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31 Scary Movie Mini Reviews – Part 1

Posted by sean

This October, to celebrate Halloween, I’m writing 31 mini reviews of scary movies. Here are the first 15:

Scary Movie Mini Review #1: The Munsters (2022)
Directed by Rob Zombie

A surprisingly cute, very silly and fairly faithful prequel to the original Munsters TV show. The stacked-to-the-ceiling art design, crazy colorful neon lighting and off-kilter camera angles are bonkers but mostly fun. My only quibbles: too much background music telegraphing the comedy when it’s already working fine without it, and maybe a bit too drawn out of a running time with a weirdly abrupt ending. If you like the Munsters and want to admire Rob Zombie’s unique filmmaking style without watching an R-rated gore-fest, I think you’ll mostly enjoy this.

Scary Movie Mini Review #2: The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2015)
Directed by Oz Perkins

Tragic drama by way of horror, the Blackcoat’s Daughter is a story about an emotionally isolated young woman who feels so alone that she’s willing to be accepted by anyone who will have her, or in this case, any thing. The film is set in the depths of two frigid, snow-bound Februaries and vividly captures the desolate feelings winter can summon. Some disturbing violence unfolds, but it’s surprisingly overshadowed by empathetic, overwhelming sadness. An effective supernatural chiller that also feels very real.

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Hequet: Horror in a Silent Film Style

Posted by sean

Hequet is the fourth episode in my web miniseries Summer Stories, and my latest attempt at telling a story with images and sounds only. With this silent style of filmmaking, strong composition, music cues and actor’s movement and facial expressions are key to telling the story. This style of film storytelling has always appealed to me because it places so much emphasis on the cinematography and forces the viewer to engage with the story in a creative way–they have to piece the story together themselves rather than it being handed to them on an exposition platter. I’ve always enjoyed mystery in stories, leaving some of the big questions unanswered, and Hequet is no exception. What happened to the man’s wife? Is the statue really a supernatural entity or just in the man’s head? Who is the mysterious masked woman? Well, that question at least can be answered by watching Summer Stories Episode 3.

I hope you enjoy Hequet, and maybe even get a little spooked in the process! It was certainly a joy to create.

Summer Stories: Penguinarium

Posted by sean

Here’s episode 2 of my new miniseries Summer Stories. In this episode I wanted to capture the essence of 1940’s and 50’s horror with silent film storytelling. I shot the entire episode on my new Sony A7S II with a vintage Canon FD 20mm lens for a slightly surreal, off kilter look, and I chose a penguin to be the antagonist because they are inherently funny. Actually, this is an example of a prop inspiring a script. I found a retro plastic penguin statue at my local antique store this spring and the script just kind of fell into my head.