Horror - Movie Meister Reviews

January 28, 2022January 28, 2022 leebutler Horror, Review

Infrared (2022) – Spooky

Copy provided for review

In the past when I’ve talked about found footage films, the ones I’ve enjoyed have actually used the medium well to help intensify the scares while also informing the story itself. Host is my go-to example for the best way to do this, its format dictated how things unfolded and allowed them to use the technology to play with the audience. Even in the slow moments, the little tricks that the film used kept building a strange tension. Infrared definitely has a few more of those slow moments, but the moments that work really create something fascinating.

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January 26, 2022January 26, 2022 leebutler Horror, Review

Scream (2022) – We All Scream

Released: 15th January
Seen: 24th January

The first horror movie I ever saw was a little film called Scream. Obviously not when it came out (I would’ve been 8) but several years later I got a DVD of it as a birthday present from, of all people, my grandmother. Apparently, she’d asked around what movies I enjoyed and at that time I’d rented the Wayans Brothers comedy Scary Movie a lot so she got that info, something got lost in translation and I had a copy of Scream that I didn’t watch until there was nothing but sports on TV and it was my only option for entertainment… and before the end of the opening scene I was hooked.

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January 13, 2022 leebutler Horror, Drama, Review

BLOOD QUANTUM (2020) – An Important And Extremely Entertaining Shudder Exclusive

NOTE: Here is my review from Soda & Telepaths that was posted back on April 30, 2020

Zombies, one of the most overused creatures in media today. If you name a genre then sure enough, there’ll be a zombie-filled version of it somewhere. There are zombie romance films, zombie westerns, hell a little over a week ago I was watching a Disney zombie musical that was popular enough to warrant a sequel. Zombies are everywhere and everyone uses them but sometimes they get used for something special. Every now and then a zombie property breaks out from the bonds of the genre to actually be something special. Blood Quantum is one of those movies.

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January 10, 2022 leebutler Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Netflix, Television

LOCKE & KEY: SEASON 1 (2020) – Great For Locke Down!

NOTE: Here is my review from Soda & Telepaths that was posted back on April 15th, 2020.

In 2008 IDW Publishing released the first issue of Locke & Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodríguez. The book gained a cult following pretty quickly and was actually optioned to be a TV series back in 2011. They even shot a pilot for Fox TV which would’ve starred, not kidding, Jesse McCartney AKA that kid who sang Beautiful Soul (I don’t know why this amuses me, I thought I’d share that info anyway).

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January 8, 2022 leebutler Horror, Documentary, Television

CURSED FILMS SEASON 1 (2020) – Docuseries featuring all the Horror Greats

NOTE: Here is my review from Soda & Telepaths that was posted back on April 1st, 2020. This was the first of several reviews regarding episodes of Cursed Films

Every fan of genre cinema has a favourite cursed films story, one that they would gleefully pull out at the drop of a hat to show how much they love certain films. Legendary cursed horror films like The Exorcist, Poltergeist, The Omen, The Crow and Twilight Zone: The Movie have been sources of fascination for fans who want to talk about just why certain films seemed to be magnets for sorrow.

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December 4, 2021 leebutler Horror, Drama, Mystery, Review

Old (2021) – Aged Badly Already

Released: 22nd July
Seen: 2nd December

The career of M. Night Shyamalan is certainly an interesting one, to say the least. He started with absolute bonafide smash hit The Sixth Sense and then onto critical acclaim with Unbreakable and Signs. He was heralded as a visionary, someone who would have a career worthy of envy… and then he had a decade straight of critical bombs. He’s never really made an actual financial bomb (except maybe Lady in the Water) but his name went from being a sign of potential to a red flag that you’re about to be greatly disappointed. Even when he had a mild comeback with The Visit and Split, people thought he would return to his form… and now after Glass and the film we’re talking about today, Old, I have to wonder if M. Night Shyamalan was ever actually the visionary that people claimed him to be or if he’s just a bad writer/director who got lucky with his early films.

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November 24, 2021 leebutler Horror, Mystery, Review, Thriller

Paranormal Activity: Next Of Kin (2021) – Dead Boring

Released: 29th October
Seen: 23rd November

In 2009, the movie Paranormal Activity was given a wide release and signalled a change in Horror movies that would almost dictate what the upcoming decade would look like. Before Paranormal Activity, the Horror genre was knee deep in so-called “Torture Porn” films that relied heavily on shock and incredibly over the top violence and gore.

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November 20, 2021 leebutler Horror, Mystery, Review, Thriller

The Night House (2021) – Good Night

Released: 19th August
Seen: 18th November

Haunting movies are always a tough one to pull off. They tend to be a little slower to start with and at times just get a little silly because of what’s needed visually to impart the idea of a ghost moving things around. It takes something pretty special to make this genre rise above just a bunch of loud noises and slamming doors… enter The Night House, something special that rises above loud noises and slamming doors.

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November 13, 2021 leebutler Horror, Review, Thriller

Candyman (2021) – Sweet

Released: 26th August
Seen: 11th November

In 1992 the world was introduced to one of the modern horror icons, The Candyman. The mythology behind him was simple and powerful, he was the vengeful spirit of a man killed in the 19th century for being part of an interracial relationship. He returns if his name is spoken into a mirror five times and, with a hook where his hand should be, does that thing you expect people to do in slasher films. It’s a not even slightly subtle tale about racism and after the third film didn’t do well either critically or financially the series has been on a hiatus since 1999. Well, we’re going through another grand resurgence of classic horror franchises lately with the monster hit Halloween showing that some of these series still have life in them so it makes sense that Candyman returns now when his particular kind of political horror is most definitely welcome.

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November 12, 2021 leebutler Review, Action, Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Don’t Breathe 2 (2021) – Take My Breath Away

Released: 12th August
Seen: 11th November

The 2016 film Don’t Breathe was one of the best horror films of the 2010s, certainly one of the most fascinating. It was dark, unapologetically so, with a creative set of visuals (That I have talked about in a previous article) and a truly fascinating antagonist in the form of The Blind Man. It was a film that let every character live in the grey area, no one was perfectly good and no one was perfectly evil. It was a fascinating little film that really pushed some buttons… so the sequel decides to play it safe and just turn The Blind Man into a hero, because we can’t have nice things.

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