Horror Movies I Watched in July

Intro ( same as previous post)

Fear is universal and humans are the only species that seek fear. 

I was never into horror movies. I watched some when I was younger and I even saw some classics in the movie theater like Scream and Blair Witch Project, but horror movies didn't really interest me. 

On December 14, 2019, I had an astrology reading, mainly to hear someone talk about me for an hour. During the reading, Eugenia told me that during my lung transplant I faced my death to really be awoken to my mortality, and that people view me as a poster child of mortality, which reminds people of the dark side of life. 

Nobody talks about the dark side or death and dying, and she said it's my job to remind people that there is a dark side to life. That's not a bad thing. The point is to make the uncomfortable comfortable and the unseen seen in order to live more purposefully and richly.  

I thought about what she said. That was one way to look at things. 

During the pandemic, I binged all nine seasons of American Horror Story. It got me hooked on horror, so this summer vacation I decided to watch horror movies. The goal is to watch one a day. Sometimes Amanda watches with me and I know when she gets scared because she starts groaning and playing on her phone. Part of what I've enjoyed so far is pushing and forcing myself to sit through the fear and discomfort. It's a cathartic experience. 

I had never seen any of the movies that I watched. No, I had never seen The Shining or A Nightmare on Elm Street. I've also never seen The Titanic or The Lion King either. Sue me. I rated all the movies right after I watched them. I watched A Quiet Place parts I and II before I started the writing the blog, so I did not include them because memory can be unreliable.  

*Note: I've rewatched a few movies.

Highlights:(Updated for July)

Movie I enjoyed the most: The Descent 

Best horror musical: The Wicker Man

Scariest movie: Insidious or The Grudge

Movie that I unexpectedly really enjoyed but was disappointed by the ending: Signs 

Movie that I unexpectedly really enjoyed: The Craft

Most unnerving movie:  The Descent

Scoring System

Like at school, the rubric is designed for success. I included six categories:

Menace - horror movies need a good villain, monster, or menace of some sort.

Sense of dread - a good horror movie creates the feeling that something bad is going to happen. You want to get the feeling that something fucked up is going to happen or that things are about to come undone.

Atmosphere -  the setting, sound, effects, and general vibe all contribute to the atmosphere. Directors' choices can either enhance the atmosphere or take away from it. For example, high-itched shreiking can be effective, but used too much it can become super irritating. 

Relatability -   quite simply - can I connect to the characters or story in some way? Is it compelling? Relatable? Do I really care?

Fear Factor - how scary is the movie?  

Ending - does the ending make sense? 

Movies marked with * are ones I had seen before, but wanted to watch again. 

Lords of Salem (2013)

Platform: Amazon

Menace - 👻👻

Dread - 👻👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻

Ending - 👻👻

Total Score: 13

Memorable scene:

A relapsed Heidi is wheeled by her neighbor and associates to apartment number five where she encounters Satan.

Memorable line:

The length of your is inconsequential, it's what you do with your life that matters. 

Halloween (1978)

Platform: xFinity

Menace - 👻👻👻

Dread - 👻👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻

Ending - 👻👻

Total Score: 14

Memorable scene:

After Bob and Lynda have sex in someone else's bed, Bob is sent to the kitchen to fetch beer where he encounters Michael Myers who lifts him off the ground and stabs him in the guts and leaves him having against the cabinets.

Memorable line:

Destiny is a very real, concrete thing that every person has to deal with. 

Signs (2002)

Platform: Amazon

Menace - 👻👻

Dread - 👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻👻

Ending - 👻

Total Score: 13

Memorable scene:

Graham goes into Ray's house, where Ray claims to have trapped an alien in the cupboard, grabs a knife then approaches the cupboard and is startled when the alien reaches underneath so he chops off its fingers (I'm not familiar with alien anatomy so it may have been the dick).

Memorable line:

This is exactly what the nerds want. 

The Lighthouse (2019)

Platform: Amazon

Menace - 👻👻

Dread - 👻👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻👻

Ending - 👻👻

Total Score: 14

Memorable scene:

Winslow discovers a seagull drowned in the oil compartment then he is attacked by a one-eyed gull and he grabs it and smashes it to death.

Memorable line:

Don't be spillin' any of your beans to me, I ain't interested.

Doctor Sleep (2019)

Platform:xFinity

Menace - 👻👻

Dread - 👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻

Ending - 👻👻

Total Score: 12

Memorable scene:

A young baseball star in Iowa plays a good game and after he walks home alone along the cornfields when a van pulls up to him and he is forced him into the van by the True Knot then he is murdered for his shine and buried in a shallow grave.

Memorable line:

Eat well, live long. 

The Forever Purge (2021)

Platform: Cinema World (Fitchburg)

Menace - 👻👻👻

Dread - 👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻

Ending - 👻👻

Total Score: 13

Memorable scene:

At the family's ranch, the ranch workers have taken the family hostage and execute the patriarch by shooting him in the forehead.

Memorable line:

Will America survive?

Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Platform: HBO

Menace - 👻👻👻

Dread - 👻👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻

Ending - 👻👻👻

Total Score: 16

Memorable scene:

Rosemary eats a chocolate mousse despite having a chalky undertaste, which is drugged, and then in a semi-conscious delirium the satanists prey on her and perform a ritual.

Memorable line:

They're a coven and they want my baby. 

The Craft (1996)

Platform: HBO

Menace - 👻👻

Dread - 👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻

Ending - 👻👻

Total Score: 12

Memorable scene:

A racist girl, who has been harassing one of the girls in the coven coven, sits in the shower with her fallen hair around her lamenting her seemingly inexplicable hair loss.

Memorable line:

Bus driver:  Be careful of the weirdos.

Bonnie:  How can we? We're the weirdos.

Insidious (2010)

Platform: Netflix

Menace - 👻👻

Dread - 👻👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻👻👻

Ending - 👻👻👻

Total Score: 16

Memorable scene:

Elise summons Josh's mother to join his wife in order to have an intervention for Josh who must now confront his suppressed memories of his childhood astral projections and he views the photos that contain a supernatural entity that his mother kept hidden.

Memorable line:

I feel like the universe is trying to to see how far I can bend before I break. 

Jennifer's Body (2009)

Platform: Hulu

Menace - 👻👻

Dread - 👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻

Ending - 👻👻👻

Total Score: 12

Memorable scene:

(Major spoiler) Jennifer rides in a van with the band, sees occult books, asks if they are rapists, then in the woods they sacrifice her to satan to improve the chances of success of their indie band.

Memorable line:

PMS isn't real, it was invented by the boy run media to make us seem crazy. 

From Dusk Til Dawn (1996)

Platform: HBO

Menace - 👻

Dread - 👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻

Relatability - 👻

Fear Factor - 👻

Ending - 👻👻

Total Score: 9

Memorable scene:

Seth and Ritchie hide in the bathroom of an RV at the Mexican border as Jacob attempts to cross the border and play it cool in front of the border patrol.

Memorable line:

Psychos do not explode when sunlight hits them. 

The Exorcist (1973)

Platform: Showtime

Menace - 👻👻

Dread - 👻👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻👻

Ending - 👻👻👻

Total Score: 15

Memorable scene:

Chris enters the Regan's bedroom, the curtains are blowing, objects are flying all over the room, then we see Regan jamming a bloody crucifix into her bloody crotch.  

Memorable line:

The problem with your daughter is not her bed, it's her brain.

Escape Room (2019)

Platform: FX

Menace - 👻👻

Dread - 👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻

Ending - 👻👻

Total Score: 12

Memorable scene:

Zooey turns the knob to 451 after seeing the book Fahrenheit 451, however, this is not the solution and the room turns into an oven and begins cooking them, and this leads Amanda to have a flashback of surviving an IED attack in Iraq, which explains the burn scars.

Memorable line:

It might seem like reducing the number of variables in your life will control the outcome, but life isn't a science experiment. 

The Wicker Man (1973)

Platform: Amazon

Menace - 👻👻👻

Dread - 👻👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻

Ending - 👻👻👻

Total Score: 15

Memorable scene:

Sargent Howie is enchanted by Willow's siren song, which she performs naked in the bedroom next to him.

Memorable line:

You'll simply never understand the true nature of sacrifice. 

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Platform: Showtime

Menace - 👻👻👻

Dread - 👻👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻👻

Ending - 👻👻👻

Total Score: 16

Memorable scene:

Sally goes into the house looking for Kirk and falls in a room full of human parts then runs but Leatherface grabs herald hangs her on a meathook while he fires up the chainsaw, which drowns out her screams.

Memorable line:

There are moments where we can't believe what is happening is really true. 

Alien (1979)

Platform: Amazon

Menace - 👻👻

Dread - 👻👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻

Ending - 👻👻👻

Total Score: 14

Memorable scene:

The crew sits around a table eating when Kane suddenly begins spasming and gives birth to an alien that busts out of his chest and splatters the shocked crew with blood and body parts.

Memorable line:

You still don't realize what you're dealing with. 

Mother! (2017)

Platform: xFinity

Menace - 👻

Dread - 👻👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻

Ending - 👻

Total Score: 11

Memorable scene:

(major spoiler) Him takes the baby as Mother dozes off and displays the baby to the crowd then the baby is passed around and murdered and eaten by the people.

Memorable line:

Life doesn't always work out the way you want it to. 

The Descent (2005)

Platform: Amazon

Menace - 👻👻👻

Dread - 👻👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻👻👻

Ending - 👻👻👻

Total Score: 18

Memorable scene:

Down in a cave tunnel, Sarah gets somewhat stuck and begins to panic feeling intense claustrophobia.

Memorable line:

I'm an English teacher, not fucking Tomb Raider. 

Canduman (1992)

Platform: xFinity

Menace - 👻👻👻

Dread - 👻👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻

Ending - 👻👻👻

Total Score: 16

Memorable scene:

Helen, institutionalized, meets with Dr Burke and tp prove that she isn't crazy summons Candyman then suddenly Dr. Burke is murdered by Candyman.

Memorable line:

I hear you're looking for the Candyman, bitch. Well, you found him. 

Saw (2004)

Platform: HBO

Menace - 👻👻👻

Dread - 👻👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻👻

Ending - 👻👻👻

Total Score: 16

Memorable scene:

(major spoiler) On a cellphone, Dr. Gordon, who is chained up, hears his family suffering an attack and decides to saw through his ankle in order to free himself, which he does successfully, but he fails to help his family.

Memorable line:

I am sick...of people who don't appreciate their blessings.    

Old (2021)

Platform: Entertainment Cinema - Leominster

Menace - 👻👻👻

Dread - 👻👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻

Ending - 👻👻👻

Total Score: 16

Memorable scene:

(spoiler) Kara, reeling from the loss of her baby, desperately attempts the scale the rock cliff to find a way out despite loud, strenuous objections from everyone else and before she nearly gets to the top falls to her death.

Memorable line:

Maybe we're just reading what we want to believe. 

 

The Witch (2015)*

Platform: Showtime

Menace - 👻👻

Dread - 👻👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻

Ending - 👻👻👻

Total Score: 15

Memorable scene:

Katherine dreams of her dead children; one as the devil offering her a deal and the other suckling at her breast then transforms turns into a raven pecking at her bloody breast, but when she wakes she has blood on her dress.

Memorable line:

We must find some light in our darkness.

Hellraiser (1987)

Platform: Amazon

Menace - 👻

Dread - 👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻

Ending - 👻

Total Score: 9

Memorable scene:

Julia seduces a man and lures him to the attic, and when he turns to go to the bathroom she smashes him with a hammer and feeds him to Frank the monster.

Memorable line:

Used to try and pretend I was dreaming all the pain. But why kid yourself? Some things have to be endured. 

The Grudge (2004)

Platform: Amazon

Menace - 👻👻👻

Dread - 👻👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻👻👻

Ending - 👻👻

Total Score: 17

Memorable scene:

Alex walks down the office stairs and sees dead Yoko walking slowly like a zombie then confronts her and sees that she has no jaw.

Memorable line:

I'm in love with someone, but he doesn't know I exist. 

Borderland (2007)

Platform: Amazon

Menace - 👻👻

Dread - 👻👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻

Relatability - 👻

Fear Factor - 👻

Ending - 👻

Total Score: 10

Memorable scene:

Phil attempts an escape and on the way through the farm he stumbles into a grave of half-buried human corpses then he is lassoed by a freaky guy riding a horse bareback.

Memorable line:

There is no one god. There are many, and they live among us. 

The Thing (1982)

Platform: Starz

Menace - 👻👻👻

Dread - 👻👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻

Ending - 👻👻👻

Total Score: 16

Memorable scene:

The opening scene shows a man in a helicopter shooting at a dog running through the snow.

Memorable line:

Nobody trusts anybody now.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)

Platform: HBO

Menace - 👻👻👻

Dread - 👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻

Ending - 👻👻

Total Score: 12

Memorable scene:

In the gym teacher's office, his equipment begins attacking him and he is dragged out by a jump rope, hung up by his wrists, spanked by snapping towels, then killed by Jesse who discovers himself wearing Freddy's gloves the showers run red with blood.

Memorable line:

Are you mounting her nightly or what?

Get Out (2017)*

Platform: xFinity

Menace - 👻👻👻

Dread - 👻👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻

Ending - 👻👻👻

Total Score: 16

Memorable scene:

Missy hypnotizes Chris by clinking a spoon in her tea cup and Chris has tears streaming down his face as he is forced to recall his mother's death.

Memorable line:

By the way, I would have voted for Obama a third time if I could.

The Blair Witch Project (1999)* (first rewatch since I saw in theater in 1999)

Platform: xFinity

Menace - 👻👻👻

Dread - 👻👻👻

Atmosphere - 👻👻👻

Relatability - 👻👻👻

Fear Factor - 👻👻👻

Ending - 👻👻

Total Score: 17

Memorable scene:

At night, Heather and Mike are in their tent and they think they hear Josh's voice so they run through the woods.

Memorable line:

It's like you can pretend everything is not quite the way it is.