Scary Movie

Unfortunately, this early 90's independent horror/comedy never quite hooked me. While it has an interesting, if not predictable, little twist on the slasher movie premise, and a healthy dose of Halloween kitsch, with its haunted house carnival setting, sadly this horror/comedy is a boring mess of awkward comedy severely lacking in thrills. *Sidenote: While watching I couldn't help but think, despite all the connections to Austin, Texas, something about this movie makes it feel super Canadian...

If After Hours had sent its affable hero that always comes up short to a haunted house instead, you'd be watching this movie. It lays the loser beat a little hard but I was impressed with the film overall. It felt like they could've gone a little more into a Waxworks sort of genre jumping section with the actual haunted house but they pursued their red herring angle instead. Not a knock, just a perception. John Hawkes looks fresh out of an early Peter Jackson film.

"Let's go get us... (cocks shotgun) a mental patient." Scary Movie is a very watchable bad film. Most of the humour is so bafflingly bad that it loops around to being funny again. Then there are the random story elements that make no sense in the context of the movie. There are strange offputting shot choices and nothing happens in the first 30 minutes; literally people stand around for over a third of the movie. The protagonist is so cartoonish he comes off as an alien. It's good stuff.

a virtually unseen masterpiece. The theatre of the mind. How anxiety shapes our fear and forces us into scenarios we can't comprehend. a flip on horror tropes by the use of exaggeration. A movie that is all build and when the twist happens it definitely feels earned which is rare. "Christmas is too expensive. Thanksgiving's for turkeys. Easter's for anyone who believes rabbits lay eggs"

A dream

This one is a mixed bag, but it's fun enough to be worth a look. Decent performances and the Halloween setting has a very cozy appeal, plus it's pretty much a one-location affair and it does a good job of pulling that off. The premise is really interesting, but the execution just isn't the best. Some funny moments, although there are quite a few times where the comedy feels out of place mixed with the darker moments, and vice versa. Not bad, not great, but fast & light enough to breeze by.