Back to the exciting adventures of Michelle in Conventionland! I have now made up a word. I feel this is an acceptable part of my life as I tend to do these sort of things all the time. Today you are joining me for day two of my 2016 Walker Stalker Con journey. Continue reading “Adventures of Michelle in Conventionland”
Back in April of 2011, a friend of mine and I decided to see Insidious. Arriving on time, the lines were short and per usual the service at the box office was friendly and smooth. Upon entering the theater, we chose our spot and eventually began to watch the previews. During the preview for the upcoming feature film Priest, the cotton burned and the theater acted promptly in order to for us to view our feature presentation. The theater even provided the entire viewing audience with a pass for the inconvenience. Continue reading “Insidious film review”
Back in late July, before the trailer from Happy Death Day was plastered everywhere, I watched the trailer. I had immediate desire to view this film. A horror film version of Groundhog’s Day? Yes please! My desire grew when I realized that the film was slated for a Friday the 13th release. A horror film on Friday the 13th in October. Be still my horror loving heart! With all the hype surrounding the film though there was a small part of me that worried the film might be awful. I was starting to feel like the characters in Fanboys and wondering if I would be gravely disappointed by the end. Thankfully, I was beyond pleased when leaving the theater Friday evening.
Audiences open up on a college student, Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe), in a random college guy’s dorm room, Carter Davis (Israel Broussard), on what turns out to be her birthday. At first she goes through her day like any other day. Audiences quickly realize that Tree is not a very nice person soon rather than later. Generally, the whole point of these films is that we are sympathizing and rooting for the lead character to survive, but after Tree’s first death takes place within the film audiences are left to wonder if we will feel bad enough for her to connect with her by the end of the feature.
Friday the 13th is a film I was able to attain for free when I was younger. For some reason or another this was one of the movies that my cousin’s friend decided to give her despite the fact she hates horror films. A few years ago, I proceeded to pop in my VHS copy of Friday the 13th, though owning a VHS tape still was probably not the hippest thing about myself to admit, and realized that the tape was practically played out. In fact, even being able to actually make through the entire film was an amazing feat in itself.
Soon thereafter, my friend and I began to talk about upgrading the pitiful VHS. Thankfully about a year later I was able to upgrade with the uncut original Friday the 13th for $7.50! Now though, thanks to my aunt I know the entire franchise through the blu-ray boxset.
Friday the 13th is part of the slasher genre that was born after the original Halloween (1978). Part of what makes Friday the 13th so unique and so original is by taking a random day that most people dread anyway for superstitious reasons and amplifying those fears times a thousand. The other is by using limited screen time for who is behind all the murders at Camp Crystal Lake.
When I was younger the desire to be a bit more grown-up was always there. When I was allowed to sleepover at a friend of the family’s house or that friend came to the house to spend time with me, I magically somehow felt more grown up somehow. This was helped by the fact that the friend of the family brought some horror movies that she thought I would like and boy was she right!
One of those films from that night soon became one of my favorites. Happy Birthday To Me (1981). The film has a certain camp quality to it, which is probably what attracted me to it at the time. This is a film that could be dubbed as a cult classic now and one of those films that I was beyond excited to find out had finally made it to DVD. In fact, I was so excited about this, I actually asked for the feature for Christmas that year!
Since then my goal has been to show it to as many people as possible. This has not occurred nearly as enough as I would like by now, but that is neither here nor there. Regardless, I enjoy watching this one from time to time to be reminded of the greatness that is slasher films of the eighties. In fact, it might not be a horrible idea to start watching it on or around my birthday every year. Enough of that though. Let me get down to the nitty gritty of the film!
When walking along a video store wall and trying to pick a feature a couple of years ago, I found a movie that made me debate it for weeks. This was a common occurrence at the video store for me. And deep down, part of me knows the films I debate are either going to be cheesy in a guilty pleasure kind of way or cheesy in a bad way making me wish I had the last two hours of my life back. Thankfully, The Selling, also known as The Selling of Scarry Manor, did not fall into the latter category.
The film revolves around real estate Richard Scarry (Gabriel Diani). In order to pay his mother’s hospital bills, Richard purchases what is considered to be a prime property represented by fellow colleague Mary Best (Janet Varney). Soon, Richard discovers that the property is too good to be true considering the house is haunted by not one ghost, but twelve ghosts. In fact, as soon as Richard and his business partner, Dave (Jonathan Klein), enter the house the house informs them to get out. They promptly do of course, but this leaves them with a dilemma. What do they do with the house?
Friend Request is a film I’ve been curious about since noticing a cardboard cut out when exiting another film one evening at the theater. Initially this made me think of the 2014’s Unfriended. The unique thing about Unfriended is that the entire film took place through characters computer screens. So while the two films have a popular social media site in common, they are drastically different in terms of execution.
Friend Request opens on a classroom where a professor informs his classroom that a student has killed herself. Upon asking those in the room to report anything that might help authorities understand what occurred the camera pans to two friends, focusing on one of the most popular girls in school, Laura Woodson (Alycia Debnam-Carey). Moments later audiences are transported to two weeks earlier and we watch as she absentmindedly clicks on numerous confirms without truly acknowledging who she is friending online. In fact, Marina is the only person she examines even remotely in depth. Though I have to believe in hindsight she wishes she would have kept scrolling.
michellepatterson.net 