HALLOWEEN HOTTIES: HALLOWEEN HOTTIE OF 2020!

MONSTERZERO NJ’S HALLOWEEN HOTTIE OF 2020…

TARA BASRO!

It’s Halloween🎃!…and as it has become tradition, it’s time to announce MonsterZero NJ’s Halloween Hottie of the Year!…an actress that has not only captured our hearts, but gotten our attention with a strong performance, be it as a final girl or a femme fatale!…

…and our Halloween Hottie of 2020 is…Tara Basro!

Tara Basro is a talented Indonesian actress and model who seems to have become the go-to leading lady for Indonesian director Joko Anwar. She had previously starred in his spooky horror flick Satan’s Slaves and his superhero flick Gundala, before her attention getting role as heroine Maya in the Shudder original Impetigore. This very intense and creepy flick finds down on her luck Maya looking into her past after a mysterious individual tries to kill her. Maya travels, with her best friend Dini (Marissa Anita), to the rural village that is her birthplace, in hopes of securing her inheritance. Having been away from her family home since she was a child, she finds that there is a curse on this small village. Worse still, the locals believe her family is involved and the only way to end the curse is to kill the last remaining member of the family…Maya. Thankfully the resilient and resourceful Maya proves to not be the easiest target. Not many final girls have taken on an entire village full of killers, black magic and ghosts, all at one time, but Basro’s Maya does exactly that and made an impression doing so! A talented actress we’d like to see more of, especially in the horror genre!

(Click on the highlighted links or on the movie poster to read a review of the Shudder original, Impetigore!)

**************************************************

Tara Basro as Maya in Impetigore!

Down on her luck Maya has been going from one mundane job to another.

A close call with an armed madman leads disturbingly back to her ancestral village.

In the hope a life changing inheritance awaits, Maya travels back to her birthplace.

Almost immediately Maya and bestie Dini, find something is not right in this small remote village.

The more Maya finds out about her family history, the more she finds reason to be afraid…for her life!

Maya finds herself surrounded by black magic, mortal enemies and in deep trouble. Will she escape alive?

MONSTERZERO NJ’S HALLOWEEN HOTTIE OF 2020 RUNNER UP…SEO YE-JI!

As it is now tradition, we have a runner up! A new face on the horror flick scene! Korean actress Seo Ye-Ji made an impression in the Shudder Original Warning: Do Not Play as young, up and coming film director Mi-Jung. Mi-Jung has two weeks to come up with a screenplay in order to keep her first big directing job. Research leads her to a student film, that when shown at it’s premiere, caused panic and even death. Intrigued, she sets out to to find this supposedly haunted film and it’s equally elusive maker Jae-Hyun (Jin Seon-Kyu), who disappeared along with the movie. Mi-Jung learns to be careful what she wishes for and some urban legends are better left alone!

**************************************************

Seo Ye-Ji as Mi-jung in Warning: Do Not Play

Mi-Jung will lose her directing job without a script, until an urban legend about a haunted film catches her attention.

Mi-Jung soon learns to be careful what you wish for and some things should be left alone.

**************************************************

This year was, again, a tough choice…or maybe MonsterZero NJ is just an old softie when it comes to final girls. Both these ladies were great in their roles and really brought it as their respective film’s lead!

-MonsterZero NJ

(And don’t forget to check out our previous Halloween Hotties by simply going to our Halloween Hotties main page!)

BARE BONES: THE BEACH HOUSE (2019)

THE BEACH HOUSE (2019)

Shudder Exclusive opens with something being released from the ocean floor near a beachfront community, something that soon gets into the water supply and air. At the same time, young couple Randall (Noah Le Gros from Depraved) and Emily (Liana Liberato) arrive at Randall’s family beach house to sort out some relationship issues. When they arrive, they find friends of Randall’s father staying there as well, couple Mitch (Jake Weber) and Jane (Maryann Nagel). The older couple is the least of their worries, as whatever is seeping out of the ocean floor begins affecting and infecting the local lifeforms, including both couples.

The film is basically Lovecraft’s The Colour Out of Space set at the beach, instead of a rural farmhouse, as written and directed by Jeffrey A. Brown. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as it is unsettling and spooky as people begin to get sick and change. The fear of infection element is always present and extremely relevant in these COVID 19 times. It’s Liana (2013’s Haunt, not the Shudder flick from last year) Liberato’s likable heroine Emily, though, that really makes this work for us, despite the familiarity with Richard Stanley’s The Color Out of Space Lovecraft adaptation released this past January. Emily is smart and understands what’s going on, somewhat, which makes it all the more frightening as she tries to survive it. It’s a now familiar story, but done very well, especially since Brown creeps us out in broad daylight and in such a picturesque North Truro, Massachusetts settings. The make-up and visual FX are solidly rendered and they are used sparingly enough to be effective when they are presented. Worth a watch. Streaming now on Shudder.

 

-MonsterZero NJ

BARE BONES: SCARE PACKAGE (2019)

SCARE PACKAGE (2019)

Horror comedy anthology tells a series of seven stories each by different writers and directors. There are six separate stories with the seventh being the wraparound that loosely holds them together. Here, it is a video store with the various tapes popped into the VCR being the horror stories that unfold.

With a combination of eight directors, who also write their stories and another four additional writers thrown in the mix, the result is very disappointing. None of the stories really feel like a complete tale that actually goes anywhere and the mix of comedy and horror isn’t all that successful either way. The tales are neither scary nor very funny. The wraparound story goes off the rails and becomes it’s own horror tale that has nothing to do with where it appeared to be going initially, even to the point of jettisoning the main character for a last minute final girl. To be honest, none of the stories really end very satisfyingly. There is plenty of well rendered gore throughout all the tales, but the stories themselves aren’t very memorable or go anywhere all that interesting. Even the cameo by horror icon Joe Bob Briggs doesn’t elicit much of a response. It also doesn’t go anywhere. All together it’s a forgettable and dull 107 minutes that sadly doesn’t inspire one to keep an eye on any of the filmmakers involved. A Shudder exclusive if you want to bother.

-MonsterZero NJ

BARE BONES: WARNING-DO NOT PLAY (2019)

WARNING: DO NOT PLAY (2019)

Young, up and coming film director Mi-Jung (Seo Ye-Ji) has two weeks to come up with a screenplay in order to keep her first big directing job. Research leads her to a student film, that when shown at it’s premiere, caused panic and even death. Intrigued, she sets out to to find this supposedly haunted film and it’s equally elusive maker Jae-Hyun (Jin Seon-Kyu), who disappeared along with the movie. Mi-jung may soon learn to be careful what you wish for and maybe some things should be left unfound.

Korean horror film is written and directed by Kim Jin-Won and seems to be a mash-up of other films like Blair Witch Project, The Hills Run Red, John Carpenter’s Cigarette Burns and The Grudge. As such it’s still an effective and entertaining supernatural chiller as Mi-jung obviously finds the film, Jae-Hyu and the horrible truths that come with them. The pretty, young filmmaker is then haunted by the specter of a dead actress that initially haunted Jae-Hyun and while it is the traditional Asian female ghost with long black hair, she is used effectively. In fact, that’s what helps make this film work as well as it does, is that Kim Jin-Won uses the familiar elements very effectively, as he does his haunted, abandoned movie theater setting where much of the film, especially it’s spooky third act, is set. There is also some violence and gore to go along with the spooky stuff and we are given a likable and driven heroine to root and fear for. Sure we’ve seen it all before, but a good director and a very good performance by leading lady Seo Ye-Ji make this Shudder streaming flick worth the economical 86 minute run time.

-MonsterZero NJ

MONSTERZERO NJ’S 15 ORIGINAL HORRORS ON SHUDDER YOU SHOULD BE WATCHING!

**************************************************

At this point, Shudder is almost a must have for horror fans. There is a lot of spooky content from classic movies to original flicks and series. So to help navigate this awesome streaming service, here is a list of 15 original horrors you might want to watch!…

(To find the reviews for the films listed below, just type the title in the above right search engine!)_

Harper (Katie Stevens) finds herself in the wrong Halloween haunt in the Shudder original Haunt.

 

-MonsterZero NJ

BARE BONES: NEKROTRONIC (2019)

NEKROTRONIC (2019)

Nekrotronic is another mash-up from the makers of the gory, fun 2014 Road Warrior/Dawn of the Dead hybrid Wyrmwood. This flick is basically Ghostbusters, meets The Exorcist with a dash of The Avengers and Buffy The Vampire Slayer thrown in. It tells the story of Howard (Ben O’Toole), who if he isn’t having a bad enough time draining septic tanks, finds out he is from a long line of necromancers who have been battling demons for ages. He also finds out his own mother Finnegan (Monica Bellucci) has found a way to put demons into the internet and use a new ghost hunting video game to unleash them, thus possessing the players and swallowing their souls. Howard reluctantly teams up with two pretty demon fighters, Molly and Torquel (Caroline Ford and Tess Haubrich) and his recently deceased bud, Rangi (Epine Bob Savea) to take mom down.

Australian horror/comedy is not quite as deliriously fun as Wyrmwood, but is still an amusing homage to some very classic movies. Flick is energetically directed by Kiah Roache-Turner from his script with brother Tristan Roache-Turner and is filled with some cool FX, tons of gore and a host of demon possessed citizens and minions. It takes it’s ludicrous plot seriously enough for us to follow along and the cast perform it with the right tone and gusto. It could have been a little tighter, currently running at 99 minutes, but overall is a good time and the Turners, once again, achieve a lot with a little. If, as a filmmaker, you are going to have fun with your film influences, this is an amusing way to go…in your face and with a blood-spattered wink at your audience. A bloody fun time, when all is said and done.

Flick can currently be found on Shudder.

-MonsterZero NJ

HORROR YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED: HELL HOUSE LLC III-LAKE OF FIRE (2019)

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.

Supposed final film in what is now the Hell House LLC trilogy is once again written and directed by Stephen Cognetti. It’s an improvement over the somewhat disappointing Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel, though not as consistently creepy as the spooky surprise that was the first flick. To a degree it’s more of the same, with a documentary showing footage that was filmed while folks tried to do something spooky within the house and paid dearly for it. The last act does open things up and takes things in a more “Biblical” direction and it’s a matter of horror film preference as to whether one finds it effective, or too over-the-top. Cognetti does build some tension, atmosphere and provide some chills here, despite this being the third go around, and even if the novelty has warn off, he gets credit for taking some risks to conclude his trilogy. The hotel location is as creepy as ever and the cast of unknowns all perform well enough to assist in the suspension of disbelief that this is real footage. There are also some amusing cameos from the other installments that won’t be spoiled here.

Overall, it’s an entertaining finale and while some of it’s wrap-up worked and some of it wasn’t so successful, Cognetti proves he is a filmmaker to keep an eye on. He still can chill with his now familiar format and there is a surprise or two that play with expectations. Hopefully his next film abandons the tired found footage genre and gives us some straight up horror to see what he really has up his sleeve. Most certainly worth a watch, especially if you are a fan.

-MonsterZero NJ

Rated 3 (out of 4) scary clown mannequins…who are still in that darn cellar.

 

 

 

 

 

**************************************************