What I Watched in September

READY OR NOT (2019) is a horror comedy that is very entertaining regardless of the fact that the split between horror and comedy is a little off-kilter at times. The story is intriguing if somewhat far-fetched. A woman is about to marry into a very wealthy family that made its money in board games. They are very old money and have a number of very specific rituals and formalities that they maintain. One of those is that anytime someone marries into the family they must play a game with the entire family the night of the wedding. All is well and good except that on rare occasions the game that must be played is a deadly version of hide-and-seek. The film's protagonist turns out to be one of those unlucky few and ends up being chased around the family's opulent mansion while everyone else attempts to kill her. These other family members believe that if they do not kill her then some horrible curse will take effect and will destroy them. Let the games begin! This is a fun, exciting movie that moves very quickly and is it well acted on every front. It only has one small problem which is that it can't quite master the downshift between the comedic elements and the more horrific elements. This trouble with tonal shifts throws the movie off-kilter a few times but not nearly enough to make it unenjoyable. That the film grinds it’s gears a few times getting to its insane ending is fine with me since it is so entertaining. The rather ridiculous premise doesn't seem so ridiculous as the movie unspools and by the final act really seems to be much more plausible than you might expect given the unreality of the story. A good if slightly flawed film.

IT: CHAPTER 2 (2019) had a lot to live up to after the high quality of the first half of this story. I went into this slightly concerned by the near three-hour length but I’m happy to report that I never felt the film was too long as it played. I was impressed with the adult casting of the child characters and how smartly the younger actors are blended into the narrative with the older actors. The story plays out in the way anyone familiar with the earlier TV version will recognize. But, as with the first film, things are much better realized onscreen in this big budgeted effort gliding by some of the 1990 TV film’s flaws especially in the final confrontation. This new film is very well paced, well-acted and genuinely scary in ways that are more impressive given the running time. I’ve always felt that horror movies work best when kept under 100 minutes but this two part nearly six hour horror tale is one of the best horror movies of the past decade and an amazing accomplishment. And I wouldn’t mind a version that is even longer if there are more character points left out for some reason. Well done!

THE LIST

THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE (1946) – 9 (rewatch on Blu)
MAUSOLEUM (1983) – 4 (dull, often silly demon possession film)
NEXT OF KIN (1982) – 8 (rewatch on Blu) (solid slow burn horror from Australia)
NIGHTMARE BEACH (1989) – 4
THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE (1943) – 8 (rewatch on Blu)
THE MAD GHOUL (1943) – 7 (rewatch on Blu)
MURDERS IN THE ZOO (1933) – 8 (rewatch on Blu)
THE MAD DOCTOR OF MARKET STREET (1942) – 6 (rewatch on Blu)
THE GIANT CLAW (1957) – 4 (rewatch)
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956) – 9 (rewatch on Blu)
CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN (1955) – 6  (rewatch)
31 (2016) – 3 (another terrible Rob Zombie mess)
EMMA, PUERTAS OSCURAS (1974) – 6 (young mad woman slowly deteriorates)
SANTO IN THE WAX MUSEUM (1963) – 7 (Santo as superhero taking on evil scientist)
SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON (1961) – 7 (rewatch on Blu)
SNAPSHOT (1979) – 6 (rewatch) (Australian drama with a horror finale)
SHOCKING DARK (1989) – 3 (hilariously bad rip-off of…. A lot of movies)
ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU (1957) – 4 (rewatch)
NIGHT KEY (1937) – 7 (rewatch) (nice little crime film with Karloff)
READY OR NOT (2019) – 7
THE WEREWOLF (1956) – 6 (rewatch)
V/H/S/ (2012) – 7 (mostly well-done anthology found footage film)
THE MAD MAGICIAN (1954) – 6 (rewatch) (Price goes killer)
THE ANGRY RED PLANET (1959) – 6 (rewatch)
THE SCREAMING SKULL (1958) – 5 (rewatch)
PET SEMATARY (2019) – 7 (improvement on the first adaptation)
CHILD’S PLAY (2019) – 4 (failure of a remake)
IT: CHAPTER 2 (2019) – 9
WOMAN IN WHITE (1948) – 7
THE STRANGER WITHIN (1974) – 6 (Richard Matheson written TV movie)