Gabe Reviews Horror

This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #47: Us (2019) Hmm, whether or not to rate a movie higher because there's a character named Gabe in it? Ready or Not had one, but I already gave that movie a 10/10. I guess we'll see. For anyone not familiar, Us is a film about a woman named Adelaide who travels with her family back to their summer home in Santa Cruz, where she had some kind of a traumatic experience as a child. After visiting the beach where the trauma occurred, they are shocked to see another family- seemingly evil mirror versions of themselves- attempting to invade their home and murder them and their neighbors. There's more to the story but it's hard to give more of a synopsis without spoiling much. Jordan Peele's second foray into filmmaking definitely proved to be a strong one. I have some issues with this film (which I'll save until the end) but as far as horror goes, it's pretty amazing. I like

This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #46: Ready or Not (2019) So, can I post a review that's just "Trust me, this movie is great, go watch it and you'll have a great time"? I mean, yeah. I can. But I guess I won't. It's not that I don't have much to say about Ready or Not- I mean, you SHOULD trust me, it IS great, you SHOULD go watch it and you WILL have a good time if you do- but this is one of those films where the ride is really what you're there for, and the best moments of the movie can't really be put into words in a way that'll do them justice. I'll start with a recap. Ready or Not is about a bride, Grace, who has just married into an enormously rich family who got their generational wealth through the sale of card and board games. The family is very big on tradition (owing back to a family legend about a mysterious benefactor, M. Le Bail, who promised them success if they followe

This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #45: Aliens (1986) I've heard a lot of people say "Alien is a horror film, Aliens is an action film". And it's not entirely inaccurate. But while this one's focus is definitely on action, it's still totally a horror film (even if the previous film kept the horror more front-and-center). I'd never seen any movie in the Alien franchise until a couple years ago, and upon first watch I was kind of lukewarm on them. I'm very glad I gave this one a second chance, though, because it blew me away! While the action and sci-fi and even horror elements are the bread and butter of this movie, I'd argue that this movie lives or dies by the characters and their interactions. Don't get me wrong, even if the characters were bad there would still be the same amount of action in the latter half, but to this day I still hear people quoting the interactions between the marin

This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #44: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a Persian/Iranian horror/western (?!) film about... a vampire, and drugs I guess? I've seen this movie before- I watched it five or six years ago, during my yearly ritual of watching and reviewing 31 horror movies every October. (I seem to be re-doing a lot of that lately.) I don't remember exactly what was in my review, but I do remember saying that A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night was the most boring movie I watched that year. When I started watching it this time, I chided myself for how wrong I was! Maybe I didn't really pay attention last time, I told myself. Because this one started out really good! I was engaged by the film's striking visual style, the interesting worldbuilding, the genuine characters, and just the overall feel and pace of the first thirty minutes or so. How could I have said th

This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #43: Let Me In (2010) I can't fathom why both this movie AND Let the Right One In were on this bucket list, considering this one is basically a shot-for-shot remake of that one. But whatever, they're both on the list so I'm reviewing them both. To recap in basically a word-for-word manner, Let Me In is an American film about a young boy, Owen, bullied at school and without many peers, who befriends a girl, Abby, who recently moved into his apartment complex and who tries to teach Owen to stand up for himself. Little does Owen know, Abby is actually a vampire and her bloodlust will soon cause problems- problems that have kept her on the run for many, many years. Most of my thoughts on the other movie apply to this one. It's honestly such a close adaptation, I'm kind of impressed- I saw both of these films maybe ten years ago (I saw the American one first), and I remembered ther

This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #42: Let the Right One In (2008) Let the Right One In is a Swedish film about a young boy, Oskar, bullied at school and without many peers, who befriends a girl, Eli, who recently moved into his apartment complex and who tries to teach Oskar to stand up for himself. Little does Oskar know, Eli is actually a vampire and her bloodlust will soon cause problems- problems that have kept her on the run for many, many years. This is a very uncomfortable movie. The first layer, is the way Oskar is bullied throughout the film. One could easily interpret this whole film as being about the cycle of bullying- Oskar is bullied by a kid at his school (who himself gets others to carry out most of the bullying, lest they be bullied themselves), but when Oskar begins to fight back, he learns that the bully who is bullying him, is actually being bullied himself, and he uses that very bullying to pass on the bullyi

This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #41: It Follows (2014) I'll always go to bat for a film shot and set in Detroit, first because I grew up here, and second because I think the city has way more character and soul than people give it credit for. (Also, it's not 100% abandoned buildings and murder, though there is some of that too.) When I first saw this film back when it came out, I can't remember if I went in knowing it was shot in Detroit, but one of the first scenes takes place in the historic and iconic Redford Theater, which was just a few blocks from my childhood home (and it was where Sam Raimi hired ambulances to wait outside during the red-carpet premiere of The Evil Dead). It brought me so much joy to see a place I've been numerous times on the silver screen! Anyway, about the movie. While I don't think I'll be giving this one a 10/10, I really, really like this film. For anyone not familiar, it f

This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #40: The VVitch (2015) I watched (and reviewed) this movie back when it came out, after hearing only rave reviews for it. At the time I just didn't get what all of the fuss was about- it's a bleak period piece about a puritan family who runs afoul of a witch and things just keep getting worse and worse. Watching it again now, I "get" a lot more of the appreciation for it than I did the first time, but I still don't really like this film. Now don't get me wrong, this is a superbly-made film. I recognize the immense amount of work that went in to making as much of it as possible period-accurate, even down to taking most of the dialogue from letters and books written from the time. The performances are almost all fantastic, and there's so much creepy imagery and the atmosphere is pretty strong. I 100% guarantee this movie was intended to be so bleak you almost wouldn

This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #39: Little Shop of Horrors (1986) Yes, the musical. I had to double-check and make sure this bucket list called for the 1986 version rather than the 1960 version (which is NOT a musical), but sure enough, that's the one. At first I thought it was ridiculous for a musical about a singing plant to be on here but after watching it again, trust me, it's WAY more of a horror movie than Room 237 or even something like Spontaneous. Also, the version I watched was the Director's Cut, which has a COMPLETELY different ending, and it was FANTASTIC! If you've never seen Little Shop (first off, shame on you, second off, you were probably born after 9/11 so I guess you get a pass) it's about a nebbish flower shop worker named Seymour who discovers a mysterious exotic plant that garners him tons of fame and attention, but requires human blood to survive. In order to keep the gravy train run

This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #38: Color Out of Space (2019) Color Out of Space is based on an HP Lovecraft short story, and it follows a family living out in the sticks whose land is hit by a meteorite, that emits this "strange, unknown color" (Spoilers: it's pink. In the movie, it's just pink) that has strange, reality- and sanity-warping effects on the things around it. This is the second time I've watched this film, but the first time that I watched it in full. Previously, I literally fell asleep halfway through. At the time I thought it was because I had just eaten, and was sleepy, or something, and that the movie was probably fine; especially because I'd heard so many good things about it. And while I definitely had a better viewing this time around- I watched the whole thing, don't worry- the entire first half I couldn't shake this feeling that something about it, something I couldn

This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #37: Evil Dead II - Dead By Dawn (1987) So, full disclosure: Evil Dead II was my favorite movie for many years. It's not anymore, but I went into this viewing knowing full well I was going to give it a 10/10. It's been a while since I've seen it, and I will say that I found myself looking at it a bit less nostalgically than I expected, but I'm still giving it a 10/10 anyway. Just so you know right off the bat. The thing about Evil Dead II is that it has a very weird place in its series. Ostensibly it's a sequel to The Evil Dead, but (spoilers) The Evil Dead (sort of) ends with everyone getting killed (maybe?) so it would be really weird to follow that up by continuing the same storyline. My understanding is that they intended for it to pick up immediately where the previous film left off, but with the reveal that Ash wasn't killed, just possessed (which does happen in this

This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #36: The Evil Dead (1981) As much as I'm trying to make these reviews as standalone as possible, I feel the need to tie this one (at least a little bit) into the last one (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre) and the next one (Evil Dead II). So, bear with me I guess. I'm a huge fan of the Evil Dead series as a whole. Evil Dead II was one of the first horror films I ever saw, and for many years was my favorite movie of all time. However, I was never a very big fan of the first movie; I only saw The Evil Dead a couple times and when I did, it felt "lesser" than Evil Dead II in every way. I'll save most of my comments about EDII until the next review, but I just want to say that in this particular rewatch, I came out liking The Evil Dead WAY more than I used to, and liking Evil Dead II a little bit less (though I still love it). If you aren't familiar with the series at all, The E

This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #35: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) I saw (and reviewed) this movie for the first time about five years ago, after having only seen a handful of the other entries in the series. Looking back on it now, I'm a lot more lukewarm than I was before. I really just don't think this is a very good movie; I understand that horror was a lot less well-defined in 1974 than it is today, and a lot of the skilled filmmakers that have made fantastic movies in the last fifty years were shaped by the experimentation that came from these earlier decades of cinema, so I don't want to make it sound like I don't see why Texas Chainsaw was an influential film; I just don't see why people nowadays might consider this a good film on its own merits. For those who haven't seen it, this film follows a group of friends on a road trip through Texas. They stop at their destination and then wander o

This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #34: It (2017) I read It about twenty years ago; it's probably the longest book I've read in full. I think the book is very, very good (though also very, very Stephen King, which means there's a lot in its pages that makes it quantitatively worse than it could be) and for the most part this movie is a faithful adaptation... of half of it. I'll save most of my book vs. movie complaints for later on, but I'll just say that the book itself is two very important and very intertwined halves of a story, and while I understand the reasoning to cut it in half (doing the whole book justice would take well over four hours' worth of screentime), I really do think it does the whole story a disservice when this entire film starts and ends with the characters as kids. The book is constantly jumping back and forth between the child half of the story and the adult half, to the point where

This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #33: Room 237 (2012) So, I've complained about (or at least mentioned) some of the movies on this list not exactly being horror, but this one really takes the cake. Close your eyes for a moment, and come with me as we try to put ourselves into the mindset of someone making a bucket list of 100 horror films- a person who not only chooses NOT to put The Shining onto that list, but somehow has the bright idea to put a DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE SHINING onto the list instead? I got nothing. I really have no clue what Room 237 is doing on this list, and I assert that it had to have been some kind of huge oversight. Considering how many examples of movies AND their remakes there are on this list, it doesn't seem out of the question that they meant to put both The Shining and Room 237 on there. But somehow, one of the two (and not the one that makes any sense) ended up getting cut and nobody caught i

This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #32: The Silence of the Lambs (1991) When I was growing up, this was one of those films that I'd heard referenced a million times, but never seen. I'd heard it was violent, it was scary, and it had something to do with skin on someone's face- so when I finally got around to watching it many years later, I was shocked at how it really was none of those things. I mean, yes, there's some violence in there. Yes, it's scary. And yes, there's a scene where a person has someone else's skin on their face. But like, I feel weird even calling this a horror movie? Obviously it is, but at its core there's so little of what makes modern movies "horror" present in this movie, other than just dealing with a grotesque subject matter. The Silence of the Lambs is a murder mystery with a ticking clock, and a lot of macabre clues that lead the detective to put all of the pie

This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #31: Hereditary (2018) Man. Where to even start with this movie? It's fantastic. It might be the scariest horror movie I've seen in the last ten years, definitely in the top five of all time. But it's not just scary- every facet of this film has clearly had so much work put into it, and it's like every single element that went into making it was the perfect tool for the job. Roles are perfectly cast, visual motifs are the exact right degree of unsettling, certain shots linger for the perfect amount of time to let the gravity of what you've just seen sink in, and so on. I don't know what could be done to make this movie better without simultaneously making it worse. I think Hereditary is an amazing deconstruction of trauma and grief. Not only do we see how the characters all cope with the grief that comes from the loss of a loved one throughout the whole film, but certain s

This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #30: Rosemary's Baby (1968) This was the second time I've seen Rosemary's Baby, and the first time I watched it I really didn't care for it. There's no denying: this movie is a fairly slow burn, a lot of the scenes don't necessarily contribute to the plot in a way that couldn't have been gotten across in less time, and to anyone with an ounce of modern genre savviness, it's pretty clear very early on what's happening and most of the rest of the film feels kind of superfluous as a result. And this isn't exactly a short movie- over two hours (and supposedly the first cut of the film was double that!)- so I can't really blame myself for having that reaction. This time around, though, I actually really liked it! It's got a big problem to hold against it (I'll talk about that in a moment) but overall the characters are all consistent and likable, the

This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #29: Don't Breathe (2016) This movie (along with It Follows two years prior, which I'll be reviewing soon) came from a period when Detroit was offering incentives for filmmakers to make movies there. As a native Detroiter, I'd be lying if I said that the setting wasn't one of the reasons I have a soft spot for this film- but believe me when I say, no matter where you're from, Don't Breathe is a fantastic thrillride from beginning to end! The basic plot is simple: a group of ne'er-do-wells decide to break into a blind man's house to steal some money, but they get more than they bargained for. This movie pulls the rug out from under you with a twist though: not only is the man fully capable of defending himself, but he's got his own secrets far darker than anyone expected. The pacing in this movie is incredible- it's a roller coaster from beginning to end, co

This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #28: A Quiet Place (2018) So, I have a lot of nitpicks about this movie, but I'll save that for the second part of the review. A Quiet Place is (more or less) a post-apocalyptic film about a family trying to get by after the world was invaded by deadly aliens that track by sound; more relatably, trying to find a place in the world after the loss of their youngest son a year earlier. This is a very evocative and engaging movie, on a first watch. The story has a lot of heart, the actors all play their parts fantastically, a lot of work was clearly put into the worldbuilding, and there are tons of small details that you might not notice at first that make the world feel more real. If you aren't going to put too much thought into the logistics of how this world would work or what the characters might have done better, then this is guaranteed to be an hour and a half of solid entertainment, an

This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #27: Return of the Living Dead (1985) I watched this film for the first time last year, and of all of the zombie movies I've seen it was the one that took me the most by surprise. After acclimating myself to the subgenre with slower-paced films like Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, this split-off entry was an utter delight with its different take on the zombie experience. This one jumps right into the cheesy 80s action with all of the classic archetypes (like the group of friends that somehow encompasses goth, punk, prep, and more all in the same group), and it spices up every scene with snappy dialogue, witty banter, and twists and turns that keep the story moving. The pacing of this film is INCREDIBLE, to the point where I started this rewatch 100% sure it was going to be two hours or more, because of the sheer amount of scenes and events that I remembered happening. Instead i