Halloween Binge: Scream

It’s Halloween which means it’s time for my self-inflicted yearly torture. Every October I pick a horror franchise, watch every instalment and go slowly insane as they inevitably descend into depths that the most depraved mind could only dream of. Yes, I am talking about Hellraiser IX: Revelations. In the past, I’ve subjected myself to the entirety of Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Friday the 13th, Saw and the already mentioned Hellraiser. However, I’m not necessarily recommending you read them. My old writing is fucking atrocious.

It is 2020, though, and if there is a year where I deserve to do something nice for myself, it’s this one. So, rather than putting myself through another ten plus films, I am working on easy mode, as we dive into the self-referential world of Scream. Four films? All of them directed by Wes Craven? This can only be a delight.

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31/10/2020 0

Ramblings About’s Top Twenty Films of 2019

Round two of my end of year round-up is my twenty favourite films of the year. Cinema is a weird one. If you are to believe certain corners of the internet then it’s a dead artform, overrun by superheroes and the flogging of shite franchises. However, there is an incredible array of films being released every year, and with just a bit of effort, you can see them all! Here’s the twenty that blew me away in 2019.

Quick note to say that this list is based off films that got a wide release (be that on streaming services or in cinemas) in the UK in 2019.

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27/12/2019 1

Halloween Binge: Hellraiser

Image result for hellraiser poster — The main man.

In what is now an established Halloween tradition, it is time for me to pick a horror franchise, force myself to watch it all and then moan about it on here. So far I’ve done A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Friday the 13th and Saw (the writing on the older ones makes me cringe) with all five of them successfully driving me a little bit insane. Of course, that’s partly down to the fact that I have developed a habit of binging these increasingly awful films in the last five days of October before promising that next year it will be different. Guess what, folks? It wasn’t!

2019’s franchise of choice is Hellraiser, Clive Barker’s brainchild and a series which has, at the time of writing, ten films, most of which went straight to DVD. Why do I do this to myself?

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31/10/2019 1

Halloween Binge: Saw

Every Halloween I choose a horror franchise and watch it from start to finish. In the past, I have dived into Nightmare On Elm Street, Halloween and Friday the 13th. This year’s brand of torture was Saw, enjoy.

Image result for saw film franchise — He’s a creepy wee fucker.

A serial killer who doesn’t kill. That’s the intrigue at the heart of the Saw films. Instead, Jigsaw’s victims are placed within a game. A game in which you may face great pain or even the loss of a limb, but in which it is always possible to survive. Why? Because Jigsaw is dying of cancer, and with that knowledge weighing him down he looks at the world and sees humanity wasting their lives. He wants them to understand how incredible it is to be alive.

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31/10/2018 2

Ramblings About’s Top Ten Films Of 2017

It’s the most listicle time of the year. The end of the year wouldn’t be the end of the year if people like me didn’t tell you about all the things that we love. Over the next few days, I’ll be running down my films, albums, matches and wrestler of the year. I think that’s it, although there’s every chance I’ll come up with something else. I love me a list.

Today we’re heading to the cinema. For what was, in my opinion, an outstanding year. It took me ages to narrow this list down to ten, and the first draft was closer to the fifty mark. There are still a few films that I wish could be on here, sadly I just ain’t got the room.

As usual, this is purely personal opinion, so don’t bother telling me I’m wrong. I’m also going by UK’s release dates, hence the inclusion of some things that came out last year in other parts of the world. Anyway, let’s get on with it.

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26/12/2017 1

Paddington 2 (2017)

In a world where recent surprises have tended to be a bit scary, Paddington was a shot of joy. That famous little bear was adapted for the modern world and it turned out that he was maybe what we all needed. Of course, such success could only mean one thing. A sequel. Suddenly, the worries were setting in. Could that magic be captured twice? Or would Paddington’s beauty be twisted into a corporate cash cow?

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17/11/2017 0

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

The poster makes it clear that this probably won’t be a cheery ride.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer is the cinematic equivalent of being slowly choked out. At the start it’s uncomfortable, but tinged with a degree of humour at the ridiculousness of the situation. The clipped dialogue that is becoming Yorgos Lantihmos’s trademark makes regular conversations awkward. However, it also makes them funny. The matter of fact way that Colin Farrell’s Steven Murphy tells his colleague that his daughter has started menstruating catches you off guard and the laugh escapes your lips before you can stop it.

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14/11/2017 0

Halloween Binge: Friday The 13th

Over the last few years, I have been establishing a tradition. Every Halloween I pick one horror franchise and watch it from start to finish. Two years ago I did Nightmare on Elm Street and I followed that up last year with Halloween. So, to knock out the slasher hat-trick, there was only one place to go in 2017, Camp Crystal Lake for a date on Friday The 13th. It was a challenge that I quickly regretted taking up.

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31/10/2017 2

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Thor: Ragnarok solves a problem that has been plaguing Marvel’s cinematic version of the Thunder God from the start. Even when the Avengers worked it out, the standalone Thor films lagged behind, and we were beginning to worry that it would never happen. Thankfully, Ragnarok is here, and with it, they finally realised that everything about Thor – from the concept to the world he inhabits – is slightly ridiculous.

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27/10/2017 0

Gerald’s Game

This is not how she pictured the weekend going. Credit: Netflix

Mike Flanagan is quietly making a name for himself. Hush got a bit of internet buzz when it was released on Netflix in 2016, and while Before I Wake didn’t pick up anywhere near the same momentum, there were hints of his growing talent. It was enough to convince Netflix to put faith in him and fund his passion project, Stephen King’s Gerald’s Game – a book he used to take to meetings just in case he could convince someone to let him make it.

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11/10/2017 0