Gary Wolcott's "Mr. Movie" column has appeared in the Tri-City Herald since 1992. The Tri-City native now lives in Portland, Ore., and watches about 250 movies each year. This member of Portland's association of movie critics, Far From Hollywood, believes movies are made to be seen on theater screens and should be seen there and not on television screens. Have a question for Mr. Movie? Click on "Add Comment" below. Mr. Movie has joined Twitter. Follow him here.
This week, fans will clog theaters for episode six of Saw. FYI: chop and slash is "gorror" not horror. Skip it.
Want to be scared? Want to see the real deal? Bag the ew-inducing killing and maiming and catch the real deal. Paranormal Activity is a creepy, make the skin crawl, heebie-jeebie producing scare fest.
Paranormal Activity is the best horror flick in years, and nothing beats a good horror flick when you can find one.
Done with a super-low budget, it pretends to be a true story and is shot entirely inside a modern house in sunny Southern California.
Something is bugging a couple. At night, it moves things, stomps up and down hallways, opens and closes doors. Deciding to catch the thing in the act, they boyfriend buys a state-of-the-art camera and records everything that happens in the home.
The recording is quite disturbing.
Writer/director Oren Peli understands horror. He knows that effects/tricks such as people popping out from behind doors, or sudden, loud sounds cause discomfort because of their suddenness -- not because theyre scary.
The psychology of fright says we can deal with what we can see. Its what we dont see that is frightening. Pulling a page from suspense masters of the past, Peli is quiet and subtly hammers you senseless.
His film will remind you of The Blair Witch Project. Only instead of wishing someone would do away with the lady holding the camera, youll wish it was the boyfriend.
Paranormal Activity is a scary movie see it.
Mr. Movie rating: 5 stars
Rated R for mature themes, frightening scenes, language. It opens Friday, Oct. 23 at Regals Columbia Mall 8 and at Fairchild Cinemas 12.
5 stars to 4 1/2 stars: Must see on the big screen
4 stars to 3 1/2 stars: Good film, see it if it's your type of movie.
3 stars to 2 1/2 stars: Wait until it comes out on video.
2 stars to 1 star: Don't bother.
0 stars: Speaks for itself.
I’m going to ramble a bit. Normally when picking a best list you do five or 10. I’m doing six. It just worked out that way.
When you look at my picks you will note I deliberately left The Exorcist off my list. While some think it’s the best horror film of them all, I read the book and it pales in comparison. Other than Linda Blair’s spinning head, lots profanity and vomit, and Mercedes McCambridge’s brilliant work as the dubbed-in demon voice, there isn’t much substance.
I guess at this point you’ve guessed the topic of this post is horror movies for Halloween. You’ll want to get started early. These days they get gobbled up at the few video stores that are left. I know next to nothing about Netflix so I’m not sure what kind of a supply it has for those still doing the mail thing.
The first Paranormal Activity was shot for $15,000 by writer/director Oren Peli. Worldwide, it grossed about $193 million.
That's amazing. Right there we have the solution to the nation's ongoing economic swoon. We're going to have to overturn the law against human cloning, but extreme measures must be taken to produce an army of Pelis to work around the clock turning 15 grand into 200 million. In no time at all, we'll be looking at so much money the nation will quickly be replaced by a giant Betty Ford center.
Lean and scary, "The Innkeepers" was shot in 17 days in a quaint Connecticut hotel called the Yankee Pedlar, where writer-director Ti West stayed while making his previous movie, "The House of the Devil."
It's not really fair how obvious some mistakes look in retrospect.
If you're trying to prove the strength of your skyscraper's windows by flinging yourself against one, and then it breaks and you plunge hundreds of feet to your doom, well, you can't begrudge a few jokes at your funeral. Likewise when you sign the director's contract with M. Night Shyamalan.
'Don't be Afraid of the Dark' offers few reasons to worry
Emphasis. Don’t. That’s “don’t” as in Don’t be Afraid of the Dark .
This movie won’t leave you afraid of the dark or much else. No leaving the lights on for the night when you get home. No checking rooms and closets or peeking under the bed worried that something creepy might be there.
Nope. In the 99 very slow minutes of Don’t be Afraid of the Dark an expected jump or two is about all you get. And they’re not even that good.
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