Podcast
Horror Movie Talk
Hosted by Horror Movie Talk: Horror Movie Review · EN
An opinionated and accidentally funny horror movie review show. Each week, this horror movie podcast covers a new release in theaters or an older flick on streaming/VOD. New episodes come out every Wednesday.
29episodes
Episodes
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Hokum Review
2w ago01:35:01Tap to summarizeSynopsis Ohm is a writer struggling to let go of his past. In an effort to move on, he travels to Ireland to spread his parents’ ashes. When he checks into the very hotel his mom and dad stayed at on their honeymoon, Ohm learns about the witch said to haunt the building. Some shady business is afoot. But, having some shady business to attend to himself he goes to his bedroom with a rope and a dream. Fiona, an employee at the hotel stops him from committing the ultimate L, and is later discovered to be missing. Ohm sets out to find the woman who saved his life and hopefully return the favor. Review of Hokum Hokum is directed by Damian McCarthy, who also directed both Caveat and Oddity, which are both great movies. Hokum follows suit with the same feel and spooky imagery. If I could describe Damian McCarthy’s style in one word, I would call it unsettling. While I think I like the premise of Caveat and Oddity better than Hokum, the themes were better in this film. At hokum’s core there is a message about self-forgiveness and allowing yourself to heal what is broken within. The main character Ohm, played by Adam Scott, who you may recognize from Krampus (or like Parks and Rec and Severance), is a man who did something terrible and never let himself forget it. He became the villain in his own story and lets that show in the conversations and interactions he has with others. But just like the story he is writing, maybe our character will learn to do something selfless. It’s beautiful, shocking, and unexpected. I will say that I was hoping for a little more out of some plot lines. The witch feels like a subplot that barely makes it into the movie, but maybe I’m just being nitpicky. Score 9/10
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Veronica Review
3w ago01:34:33Tap to summarizeSynopsis Verónica takes place in 1991 Madrid, Spain, where, during a solar eclipse, a teen girl and her friends decide to try and contact their deceased loved ones using an Ouija board. Unfortunately, things do not go as planned, and one of the girls, Veronica, begins to experience horrifying supernatural events while trying to care for her 3 young siblings. As things ramp up and she becomes more isolated, it is up to her to try to right her wrong. Review of Veronica I was super happy when this won the Patreon poll. I saw this movie when it first came out, and it brings a lot of nostalgia for me. I was working on my bachelor’s in Spanish, and it was definitely a hot topic among my classmates. With that nostalgia aside, it’s just a great movie. You get everything that you could want from a possession/haunting film and although there are a lot of horror movie tropes, they are well executed in unique ways. The addition of her 3 young siblings really ups the steaks especially considering that she’s only 15 and is constantly caring for them. The film is well-paced and takes its time, but gives you plenty of scares along the way. I love the design of the apparitions. I feel like you don’t see that a lot. I also like all of the mouth horror. The film also covers themes of isolation, self-doubt, and grief in a beautiful way. The cuts between scenes are well done, and the integration of the true story isn’t too heavy-handed. It’s honestly hard for me to find any big criticisms of this film. Score: 9/10
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Lee Cronin’s The Mummy Review
4w ago01:41:17Tap to summarizeSynopsis After the sudden disappearance of a journalist’s young daughter in Cairo, his family is left shattered. Eight years later, they receive an unexpected call that their daughter has been found, although she is not quite the same. What begins as a moment of overwhelming joy turns into something much more disturbing. As unsettling events begin to unfold, her father and others start to dig into the mystery of her disappearance to find out what really happened to Katie during all those years. Review of Lee Cronin’s The Mummy I was really excited going into Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, the intro had me hooked and invested in these characters and the film is beautifully shot, even the gory parts. It does feel more like The Exorcist and Evil dead than a mummy movie but it was a solid attempt at doing something different. The special effects are incredible, I genuinely felt nauseated at certain points and had to look away. Unfortunately this doesn’t make up for an unnecessary 2 hour and 13 minute run time. Parts became repetitive and there were many scenes that were unnecessary or could have been compiled concisely into other scenes.What really lost points for me more than anything was the awful ending that was also way too long and turned almost comical but not in a good way. Score 5/10
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Incident in a Ghostland Review
Apr 1501:15:37Tap to summarizeSynopsis A single mother and her two teens travel to a rural house inherited from a family member. News reports tell of a serial killer that targets families, killing the parents, and living with and torturing the surviving teen girls. You can guess what happens next. But can you guess what happens AFTER that? Probably not. Review of Incident in a Ghostland This is an effective psychological horror that really plays with the audience in some impressive ways. It keeps you guessing exactly what kind of movie is this? Is this a torture porn slasher? Is it a supernatural horror allegory of unprocessed trauma? One thing is certain, this movie is fucking with your expectations. Incident in a Ghostland is directed by Pascal LAugier, who is probably most known for Martyrs, so the amount of brutality should be adjusted accordingly. It is a very dark movie, and only lets up briefly. It borders on too uncomfortable to watch and enjoy. However, it’s so darn interesting, that you have to keep watching. My one complaint is that the production design is cliche,a nd a little too over the top creepy with all the creepy dolls in the house. Another shortfall, is that the main antagonists never really get fully fleshed out, and remain kind of 2 dimensional. They feel more like scary video game monsters to avoid versus characters whose motivations are known and can be interacted with. I can’t say it’s an enjoyable movie, but it is good. I enjoy it on the level that it truly did play with my expectations and perception, which for a grizzled horror movie reviewer counts for a lot. Score 7/10
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Ouija: Origins of Evil Review
Apr 801:09:32Tap to summarizeSynopsis In this prequel to the movie Ouija, we are given a family struggling to make a quick buck in the 1960s as spiritual mediums. But they aren’t just any regular spiritual mediums….they are frauds. Which I guess actually just makes them regular old spiritual mediums. But when 9 year old Doris discovers that she can speak to the dead for real using a ouija board the family business starts booming. As Doris’s spiritual talents begin to take on a sinister tone, the question on everyone’s mind becomes “who or what is Doris really talking to?” Review of Ouija: Origins of Evil I’ve been giving Ouija: Origins of Evil a hard time lately, because I remembered it being very bad. But then I rewatched it. And its still pretty bad. But not quite as bad as I remembered it being. The movie is directed by Mike Flannagan, a director who has brought us incredible movies and Tv shows such as The Haunting of Hill House, Hush, Gerald’s Game, Oculus, Doctor Sleep, and my personal favorite Midnight Mass. He has thoroughly proven himself to me as a director who can create something scary as well as emotionally impactful. This movie is not that. Its extremely cookie cutter, and doesn’t really even attempt to break the mold of a stereotypical haunted house movie. If you’ve seen any of the conjuring movies, you’ve seen this. If you’ve seen any of the insidious movies, you’ve seen this. If you’ve seen any movie with the words “the haunting of…” in the title, you’ve seen this. I could go on, but you get the picture. What this movie does well is pepper in some truly creepy imagery and a couple fun jump scares, however it fails to do anything outside of the box or make a group of characters worth caring about. Don’t get me wrong, the mother played by Elisabeth Reaser, and the priest played by Henry Thomas were great. But the kids in this movie are awful actors and I truly believe that with my whole heart. Score 4/10
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Exorcist III Review
Apr 101:14:55Tap to summarizeSynopsis The film begins 17 years after the events of The Exorcist and follows the characters Father Dyer and Lieutenant Kinderman who have kindled their friendship from the shared tragedy of losing their friend Father Karras. A series of murders in Washington DC copycat the Gemini Killer, who has been dead for 17 years. Kinderman is befuddled that they include Gemini’s trademarks that were never revealed to the public. The investigation leads to a psychiatric ward and a supernatural suspect. Review of Exorcist III The Exorcist 3 certainly does a better job of carrying forth the themes and story of the first film, however it never comes close to matching its quality. That being said, it’s a vast improvement over the incomprehensible mess of Exorcist II: The Heretic. The film is written and directed by William Peter Blatty, the author of the original Exorcist novel. While the writing is good, and the characters and relationships strong, the direction is a mixed bag at best. It’s hard to put a finger on whether it is because of Blatty’s lack of experience, this being only his second film he directed, or because of the studio interference demanding a more direct sequel. The answer is probably both. The relationship between Dyer and Kinderman is the best part and the heart of the film. The dialogue between them genuinely feels like old friends sharing a laugh and challenging each other’s philosophies. Like the Exorcist, the dichotomy of good vs evil, and the nature of man is explored. Like the original, the forces of evil seem to be unhindered, and as such, the tone is oppressive and dark at times. The standout performance is Brad Dourif as the Gemini Killer. Rarely has Dourif been given the free reign to appear on screen as himself and deliver a truly scene chewing performance that displays his full range. It goes from calm meticulousness to unhinged rage within seconds. The things that hold back the film from being great are the unrefined visual style, and the obviously wedged in and tonally divergent exorcism in act 3. It goes from a tight and oppressive thriller to a bombastic supernatural bombardment in the last act. Score 7/10
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Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come Review with New Co-Host Mikayla!
Mar 2501:14:16Tap to summarizeSynopsis & Review of Ready or Not 2 This film picks up right where the first one left off with our protagonist Grace dealing with the aftermath of her wedding night gone wrong, except this time she is reconnected with her sister Faith and they have to “run and hide” from even more satanists under the rule of Mr. Le Bail. The film brings us A LOT of gore and even more laughs with not so subtle societal commentary. With a star studded cast including many horror movie regulars and our returning scream queen the movie was set up for success. It’s genuinely hilarious, self aware of the absurdity at times and it just works. There are a few pitfalls that we will get into in spoilers but overall it’s a great time to watch, so I am giving it a 9/10 …. What do you guys think? Score 9/10
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Undertone Review with Taylor W.
Mar 1801:27:34Tap to summarizeSynopsis Evy is a popular scary story podcaster recording a new episode from the home of her mother who is lying in hospice upstairs. As she takes care of her dying mother, Evy and her cohost listen to disturbing recordings sent in from an anonymous email. The more they listen to the recordings, the more Evy notices strange happenings in the house. Review I wanted to like this movie, but by the mid mark, I was just so bored. This is bad news for the movie, because it seems like it was tailor made for me. Having semi recently cared for a parent in hospice and being the host of a semi successful podcast with an annoying cohost, I was hooked immediately by the premise. I’ll even give credit where credit is due. The movie really does a great job of utilizing the theater of the mind of an audio format. However, it doesn’t pair the audio with anything particularly interesting to look at. I found myself thinking that truly this would have been better in an audio format as the camera Skinamarinked around aimlessly. If there was something interesting to see other than lighting changes for the first half of the movie, they were too subtle for my eyes. And by the time shadowy figures start appearing in the periphery, I was starting to doze off from the repetitive nature of the plot. I wanted to care more about the protagonist, but we aren’t given enough information about her motivations or history to really care about her. There were so many ripe emotionally fertile situations within the plot of the movie, parent dying, unexpected news, strained relationships, etc. However, when it comes down to it she seems like a cipher for the audience. Just a blank slate. I guess that might be what the filmmakers were going for, since the semi-stated thesis of the movie was the phenomenon of audio pareidolia, where the brain fills in random noise with recognizable patterns, such as speech. Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s enough here to maintain the interest of the audience to have them try to fill in the blank spaces of the film with meaning by themselves. Score 4/10
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The Bride! Review
Mar 1101:21:48Tap to summarizeSynopsis You’ve heard the story of Frankenstein’s monster many times. Once just a few months ago in fact. But that is only half the story. Something has long been missing. What we really need is a femininominon. The Bride is about a woman named Ida who is (I think) possessed by the ghost of Mary Shelly. After causing a scene she is pushed down a flight of stairs to her death. Meanwhile our boy Frankenstein’s monster, or as the kids call him, frank, meets with a therapist to talk about his loneliness. Just kidding he goes to a mad scientist and begs for a sexy wife. You can see where this is going. Now resurrected and missing her memory, Ida must make fundamental decisions about her life. Who is she? What is she? Was she really just created to be someone’s wife? And does she even want this life? For all this and more, watch the movie yourself or stick around for the spoilers section. Review of The Bride! It wasn’t too long ago that we were recording an episode about a different take on Frankenstein, and going into the movie I was feeling a little burnt out by the story. I love Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (and by that I mean the book, not the movie that is literally titled Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein). But I am often left wanting when it comes to these movie adaptations. Luckily The Bride is a fairly unique take on the creature and the creates as they struggle in this world together. The movie has a strong emphasis on women’s rights. Based in 1938 we are shown lots of gender inequality in the workplace, as well as some pretty nasty misogyny and sexual harassment and assault of women. All problems that are still very relevant today. I enjoyed watching the Bride attempt to become her own person, while constantly being pulled in different directions from those around her, including the very wacky version of Mary Shelley that lives in her head. Score 6/10
Transcribe →Scream 7 Review with Vero
Mar 401:21:22Tap to summarizeSynopsis Sidney Prescott is now a mother of a teen girl her age during the first film learns that another Ghostface copycat is afoot. When she gets her first call from the killer it’s revealed that it might be an old friend, or perhaps a deepfake. It doesn’t matter, we still get the nostalgia. Then pretty much everything that you expect happens: teens get killed, everyone is suspect, and the killer is finally revealed. You’ve seen one of these before, right? Review of Scream 7 As with all the Scream movies, this is a competent slasher. It remains visceral and mean, but this one lacks the fun and meta horror movie commentary that the originals had. Sidney Prescott as a mother is a compelling character, even if it feels like a bit of a retread of Halloween 2018. Unlike Halloween, Sidney seems like a real person that is trying to move on and raise her daughter. The first reveal of the killer is surprising enough and is explained through a semi convincing retconn, but comes too early for it to be trusted completely. So there remains enough doubt as to the killer and especially their accomplice to maintain the whodunnit aspect. Kevin Williamson, the original writer of Scream and countless other early 2000s classics, directs this episode. His only other directing credit is “Teaching Mrs. Tingle” a forgettable dark comedy thriller in 1999. He does fine here, although most directors could do one of these movies on autopilot. There isn’t much added flair, he just gives you what you want: tension and jumpscares. Overall, it’s alright, and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a good time, but I can’t say that the movie makes a case for more Scream movies. Score 5/10
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