Kisha

“HERE’s JOHNNY!” The Shining by Stanley Kubrick, A horror film ahead of its time Mr. Kubrick does a fantastic job at delivering suspense, a thorough and enjoyable plot and an explanation as to why the hotel makes its caretakers go insane by the use of mentioning the hotel is built on an Indian burial ground. The beauty of classic horror films such as the Shining is they are simple and therefore enjoyable. The simple acting techniques, such as the famed Kubrick stare done brilliantly by Jack Nicholson, the simple cut-to-scene to increase the intensity of the film shot. The simple setting, a ‘cursed’ hotel, the silence, the isolation, the use of echo and the classic soundtrack of the 80’s. Of course, special effects were not as good as modern films but perhaps that is what makes this movie a better horror than many present ones. The simple plot and characters were amazing as we saw the main character Jack Torrence’s slow descent into madness. Applause for the actors for their brilliant portrayal of their characters. The Shining was simple, brilliant, iconic and forever enjoyable. This is why it will always be up with the Saw franchise, SCREAM franchise, Nightmare on Elm street and Friday the 13th, classic amazing films. LONG LIVE THE SHINING!

For a 2009 horror film this was a poor reflection on the entertainment industry. Rightfully so this movie failed in the box office. The Human Centipede (2009) had no vision or strong plot point. It is as if the writers and directors thought what is the best way to disgust an audience, came up with the Human Centipede and simply wrote around the concept. It is not only the disturbing concept that made this film poor, it was the acting, the lack of focus on character development. From vague context the audience can infer that the villain is a surgeon who has a disturbing notion of the Human Centipede, inspired by the real story of the Siamese Twins. As a functioning member of society we also know that a human being does not just suddenly think up such a disturbing concept. A flashback or perhaps a short monologue from the doctor could have layered this petty snuff film with context and perhaps strengthen the plot. However we see none of this. It is obvious to such a viewer that this film’s priority was to simply disgust and disturb the audience as much as possible. If this is the Director’s priority than perhaps he should consider a career change to a Morgue Diener, or perhaps run a Gore Website. Viewers can only hope this is simply a practical joke and not a glimpse into the Director and Writer’s minds. The inspiration to this film is a message in itself. Of course we truly see the potential or lack thereof in the two sequels. The second film hoping to appeal more as a serial killer, psychological thriller but failed miserably and the third was perhaps grasping desperately at interesting the plot, and yet showed nothing when forced to show their hand at the table. To call this trilogy a pathetic excuse for movie entertainment would be far too good. Terrible films, no plot, no character development, no production strategy to connote the film idea and assist in plot delivery (however, there was no plot, so this makes sense). Fortunately, no Academy Awards for Mr. Six. Stick to Big Brother and stay away from a spin-off named the Human Caterpillar, you can’t beat a dead horse Tom Six.

This is perhaps the most aggravating ‘horror’ film I have EVER watched and as a horror fan I have watched quite a few, old and new. The beauty of old classics is although the editing style and special effects are disheartening the message, villains, standoffs and film cues are on point and always entertaining to watch. The old Leatherface movies were perhaps drawn out as most cult classics such as Nightmare in Elm Street, Halloween, etc. But this movie was horrid. In the first half of the sequence, everyone is dead except for three characters (excluding Leatherface). Obviously it drew inspiration from Halloween and yet did a poor replication of the stand off and the original one who got away. There was no focus, no clear main character as it did not truly show a point of view. Understandable if there were several main characters with true importance but there was not. In the end we see Lila (played by Elsi Fisher) be the ‘one who got away’ her backstory gave a good foundation for a strong female modern character in a horror film and yet the character was abysmal and had no layers, even an actress like Elsi Fisher could not bring this dead character to life. Furthermore, the number of standoffs were beyond ridiculous, I understand the main standoff and then a surprise one to get the audience on edge but this movie had no such effect. It had no terror or horror it was merely gore and that’s being generous, which in a horror movie without horror is simply a sugar-coated snuff film. And the laughable attempt at political modernism in today’s youth was simply that, laughable. Not only did it dumb the film down to new levels, it did not resonate with the intended age demographic. The missed opportunities of killing the horror villain was obvious, and missed the intended powerfulness of the scene. In conclusion, please don’t watch this film it’s a joke and the punchline is it is a horror movie.