MONSTERZERO NJ’S 20 REASONS IFC MIDNIGHT HAS DELIVERED A DECADE OF HORROR!

IFC Midnight was created by IFC Films in 2010 as a distributor for their horror movie releases. They have been going strong for ten years, now delivering dozens of genre flicks! So, without further ado, here are twenty reasons why it’s been a decade of horror, because of the great folks at IFC Midnight! Their movies can be found on various streaming or VOD outlets!

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(To get to the reviews of the titles listed above covered here at the Movie Madhouse, just type the title in the search engine to find the corresponding critique!)

-MonsterZero NJ

MONSTERZERO NJ’S BEST/FAVORITE HORROR FLICKS of 2019!

 

Pretty Harper (Katie Stevens) finds out some Halloween haunts are a bit too intense in Haunt.

 

It’s time to look back at the past year and see what horror flicks left an impression. There was an eclectic and diverse selection this year and there were some solid mainstream horror offerings, as there were some really effective indies. So, without further ado, here are my ten best/favorite horrors of 2019!

…and a couple of honorable mentions that deserve a shout out, too!

(NOTE: There are a few titles here initially released in 2018 at festivals or limited theatrical release, but I did not catch up to them till VOD or home media in 2019 and felt it unfair not to include them!-MZNJ)

(To get to our reviews of these titles use the search engine at the top of the page!)

TOP TEN

 

HONORABLE MENTIONS

 

 

College co-ed Haley Keller (Kaya Scodelario) is trapped during a hurricane in a flooded house full of gators in Crawl.

-MonsterZero NJ

REVIEWS: 10 RECENT HORRORS IN TIME FOR HALLOWEEN!

Harper (Katie Stevens) and friends find the wrong Halloween attraction to visit in Haunt!

10 RECENT HORRORS IN TIME FOR HALLOWEEN!

The Halloween 🎃 season is here and once again horror flicks are filling theaters and online streaming platforms. There have been a number of spooky movies recently released and reviewed here and it’s time to recap some of these frights flicks. Click on the links to read the reviews to help decide which chillers and thrillers you’ll want to add to your Halloween watch list!…

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READY OR NOT

Ready or Not finds pretty Grace (Samara Weaving) about to marry into the wealthy but eccentric Le Domas family, who have grown rich on games and pro sports. After taking her vows with their son Alex (Mark O’Brien), it’s revealed she must follow tradition and play a game with the family at midnight. The game, chosen from a mysterious box, is hide and seek. What Grace also soon finds out is that she must hide as the family hunts her and that she must be captured and sacrificed before dawn to appease the mysterious Mr. Le Bail, who is responsible for the family’s success. If they don’t, they will all die. Now Grace is in a fight for her very life as she is alone and pursued through the labyrinth-like mansion…. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW!

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ITSY BITSY

Flick has divorced home-care nurse Kara Spencer (Elizabeth Roberts) taking a job as a caretaker for an elderly man named Walter Clark (Bruce Davison). She movies into his guest house with her two kids Jesse (Arman Darbo) and Cambria (Chloe Perrin). Clark is a collector of ancient artifacts and has recently come into possession of an illegally obtained tribal vessel that when broken open unleashes a vicious entity that takes the form of an enormous and deadly spider. Now, unknown to them, it’s loose inside the house and out for blood…theirs…. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW!

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IT: CHAPTER 2

It: Chapter Two is an adaptation of the second half of Stephen King’s classic novel, focusing on the characters as adults, though we still visit them as kids in flashbacks. It’s been 27 years since we last saw the characters and something sinister is stirring in Derry once more. Only Mike Hanlon (Isaiah Mustafa) has remained and summons the other “Losers” Bill (James McAvoy), Bev (Jessica Chastain), Ben (Jay Ryan), Richie (Bill Hader), Eddie (James Ransone) and Stanley (Andy Bean) to return home to face Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård), hopefully for the last time. Stanley commits suicide, but the remaining members reluctantly return and must face some of their own personal demons before they can confront the demonic clown…who has been patiently waiting for them…. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW!

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SATANIC PANIC

Simple plot finds pizza delivery girl Sam (Hayley Griffith) delivering to a rich neighborhood and stumbling into a Satanic ceremony. She’s chosen as a sacrifice due to her virgin status, but the resourceful young lady escapes. She meets up with the Satanic Coven Leader Danica’s (Rebecca Romijn) outcast daughter Judi (Ruby Modine), who is in peril of her own and the two try to evade capture. Can the two women escape almost certain death with the forces of evil in hot pursuit?…. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW!

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HAUNT

Story finds pretty Harper (Katie Stevens) trying to part with abusive boyfriend Sam (Samuel Hunt) and heading out to party on Halloween night with friends Bailey (Lauryn Alisa McClain), Angela (Shazi Raja) and Mallory (Schuyler Helford). At a club, they run into a couple of guys, Nathan (Will Brittain) and Evan (Andrew Caldwell) and decide to leave with them to find a Halloween haunt, dragging a reluctant Harper along. They stumble upon one such haunt, in the middle of nowhere and soon find they may have picked the wrong haunt to haunt…. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW!

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CANDY CORN

Halloween set horror has a group of small town thugs following their cruel Halloween tradition of pranking local boy Jacob (Nate Chaney), who now works for a carnival. Their bullying takes an unexpected turn when Jacob finally fights back and they accidentally kill him in retaliation. The carnival’s ring master Dr. Death (Pancho Moler from Rob Zombie’s 31) uses his voodoo powers to resurrect Jacob as a mask wearing monster that avenges himself brutally on his attackers, leaving candy corn stuffed in their dead mouths…. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW!

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HELL HOUSE LLC III: LAKE OF FIRE (2019)

Shudder Exclusive takes place nine years after the events of the first film with a new chapter of the story told with new footage. We find that the Abaddon Hotel was finally set to be demolished after all the death and disappearances that have occurred there. It was suddenly purchased in 2018 by entrepreneur Russell Wynn (Gabriel Chytry) to be used to stage his performance show Insomnia. He asked the new host of Morning Mysteries, Vanessa Shepherd (Elizabeth Vermilyea) to cover the set-up of the show with his cast and crew, leading up to opening night. It’s mostly her footage we are witnessing, as once again spooky things are documented occurring at the infamous location, leading up to an opening performance where all Hell breaks loose…literally…. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW!

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ARTIK

Artik (Jerry G. Angelo) is a man who lives on a sunflower farm and likes to draw comics. He’s also a man who likes to imprison children to work on the farm and kill people. He’s trying to teach his son (Gavin White) the serial killer trade, until his son befriends a stranger (Chase Williamson) who starts to open the boy’s eyes about his dad’s “hobby”…and by that we don’t mean the comics…. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW!

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DEPRAVED

Modern day Frankenstein tale has former army medic Henry (David Call) suffering from a traumatic tour in the Middle East and wanting to use his talents for a good purpose. He teams up with pharmaceutical exec Polidori (Joshua Leonard) to combine a new drug and Henry’s medical skills in the creation of a human being from spare body parts. Adam (Alex Breaux) is the result and at first seems like a naive child, but as in all such tales, the combination of the harshness of the world around him and the truth of his existence turns Adam’s curiosity and innocence into anger and rage…. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW!

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BLISS

Dezzy (Dora Madison) is a down on her luck artist and drug abuser who is having trouble finishing a piece that could turn her life around. She vents her frustration in a night of debauchery, involving alcohol, a new drug from her dealer and a threesome with friend Courtney (Tru Collins) and Courtney’s boyfriend Ronnie (Rhys Wakefield). Not only does this get her working on her painting again, but gives her an insatiable appetite for blood…. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW!

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Ten recent flicks, which isn’t bad considering only a few years ago there wasn’t much new to celebrate All Hallow’s Eve with. Not all of these are classics, but read the reviews and decide for your spooky selves which films will make you shiver for the Halloween season!

 

-MonsterZero NJ

You’ll have to excuse Judi (Ruby Modine), she’s having a bit of a Satanic Panic.

 

HORROR YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED: DEPRAVED (2019)

DEPRAVED (2019)

Modern day Frankenstein tale has former army medic Henry (David Call) suffering from a traumatic tour in the Middle East and wanting to use his talents for a good purpose. He teams up with pharmaceutical exec Polidori (Joshua Leonard) to combine a new drug and Henry’s medical skills in the creation of a human being from spare body parts. Adam (Alex Breaux) is the result and at first seems like a naive child, but as in all such tales, the combination of the harshness of the world around him and the truth of his existence turns Adam’s curiosity and innocence into anger and rage.

Larry Fessenden is one of the hardest working people in indie horror and here he returns to write, direct, produce and edit this New York set modern day Frankenstein. He does so very well and presents an intriguing and effecting updating of the oft told classic tale. Fessenden has updated the players. His Dr. Frankenstein is now an emotionally disturbed combat veteran, who thinks he can bring his healing talents to the world through Adam. The manipulative Polidori represents big pharma and wants to promote his new healing drug and will go to any lengths, even murder, to do so through Henry’s work. Their “creature” Adam is a bandage for Henry’s emotional wounds, while to Polidori, he is a marketing tool to be exploited. Adam himself, is a conflicted being trying to deal with his “new” and complex emotions, the vague memories of a past life and find his place in this sometimes “depraved” world. His anger and rage over wanting to be loved and treated like a human being sets-up a tragic and violent last act much like in Shelley’s classic. Fessenden tells this new slant on the story well and might be one of the few filmmakers who could successfully transport Mary Shelley’s gothic tale from Victorian England to the warehouse loft apartments and sometimes mean streets of modern day New York City. Fessenden’s script presents Adam as sympathetic and we do feel for him, as he is manipulated and taught about being human by possibly the two worst choices in Henry and his partner. Only Henry’s girlfriend Liz (Ana Kayne) shows any true compassion for Adam as a person and not a thing. It’s an interesting and involving telling and possibly the freshest take on the classic story in quite some time.

The cast are really good here. David Call as Henry, much like his namesake, is also a bit sympathetic as his original intent is good. A skilled combat medic who has discovered ways to revive the very recently dead and Adam represents all the soldiers he couldn’t save. He is sometimes overprotective of Adam till he, like Shelley’s doctor, realizes he may have made a mistake, when Adam starts to grow frustrated and uncooperative. Blair Witch Project’s Joshua Leonard is solid as the scheming and somewhat flamboyant Polidori. He sees Adam as a showpiece to demonstrate a new drug and even somewhat of a toy. His idea of introducing the world to the “creation” is to take him to strip clubs and introduce him to illegal drugs, sleazy women and alcohol. Alex Breaux is very impressive and sympathetic as Adam. Adam must learn to handle his emotions all over again. It’s no surprise he is conflicted with such bad examples to teach him and being haunted by memories and people from another life. Finding out who he really is and how he came to be, pushes him over the edge. We sympathize with him and never see him as a “monster” even when he causes harm. Ana Kayne is good as the sweet and caring Liz, as is Addison Timlin as Shelley, a playful yet ill-fated girl Adam encounters in a bar. A good cast.

Overall, Fessenden has given a very intriguing and sometimes intense update of a time worn classic. He puts a contemporary modern day New York spin on Mary Shelley’s legendary tale. The heart and soul of the original story are here, but woven in with more modern day themes. Adam, the “monster”, is sympathetic and we understand his growing frustration and eventual anger. An intriguing new take on a classic story by filmmaker Larry Fessenden.

-MonsterZero NJ

Rated 3 and 1/2 (out of 4) Adams.

 

 

 

 

 

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