Summer Movies

We watched a bunch of movies this summer just like last year and most of them were horror related.

1. Choose or Die (2022). This is a horror movie about a computer game from the 80s, that's basically coded into being an AI. It was fun to watch it get increasingly more horrifying. That scene where a character is literally throwing up video tape was terrifying. It wasn't a bad movie, but also not one of the best we've seen. I did enjoy it, though.

2. ARQ (2016). This is a sci-fi post-apoc movie about a couple who gets stuck in a time-loop and have to figure their way out of it. I was kind of disappointed at the ending, because it was so open-ended. I just spent 1½ hours watching a story that doesn't have an end. Not a proper one at least. I guess I enjoyed the suspension of the ambivalent ending, and the action was good. But all in all a pretty meh experience. I was hoping for something more. 

3. The Cabin in the Woods (2011). Toni had seen this movie before and he wanted me to see it because he remembered that there was a twist he really didn't see coming and he thought it was so good. Imagine his disappointment when I had figured out the twist less than halfway through the movie? xD They kept dropping hints and my brain put them together. Anyway it was a very enjoyable film and I could easily watch it again. It's a horror movie, but it definitely has a twist. 

4. The Adam Project (2022). We had both heard a lot of good about this Ryan Reynolds movie and from the trailer it looked fun so we decided to watch it. It was a pretty classic time-travelling sci-fi flick and Ryan Reynolds was Ryan Reynolds. It was alright. Nothing new. 

5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022). This is marketed as a sequel to the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre from the 70s and they actually work on that story. The survivor from the original is back (not the same actress though). The town where everything happened is all but abandoned and a ghost town. A group of idealistic young people buy the town to create a green community. Leatherface is not impressed. The rest of the movie is classic slasher and we enjoyed it. I really liked Lila. 

6. Malevolent (2018). Classis ghost story horror movie, but THAT twist! I really didn't see the twist coming until just before it happened, so well done writers. A group of young people pretend to be ghosthunters with a psychic that can cleanse houses of spirits. Except the psychic figures out along the way that oopsie they're the real deal. And this house they're contracted to do is really, really haunted. But not in the way they think. I had a good time with this one. 

7. The Cleanse (2016). This was marketed as a horror comedy on Netflix and we usually enjoy that so we decided to watch it. Not a Netflix movie so didn't have a trailer. Turned out be something completely different and it was the most awkward movie we've watched all year. It wasn't scary. It wasn't funny. There was nothing horror about it. The whole thing was just unbelievably awkward. No. Just no.

8. Das schaurige Haus/The Scary House (2020). I wanted to see something with a classic haunted house so we ended up with this Austrian teen horror movie. It was pretty amusing and better than I expected. The whole family mystery thing added to the suspense. Definitely recommend. 

9. Metal Lords (2022). As metalheads we had a lot of fun with this movie. It's a teen movie, but so good and funny and heart-warming and the soundtrack is amazing. It's a coming of age story and the characters do a lot of growing up. The trailer says it all. Just watch it. 

10. Come Play (2020). A monster called Larry wants a friend. And he has decided that friend will be the autistic boy Oliver. Oliver's parents don't like the idea. This is a horror movie and it was pretty chilling at times. I had a good time with it. What bothered me most about this whole movie was the parents trying to force Oliver to learn to talk rather than having the entire family learn sign-language. But other than that this was a solid horror movie. 

11. The Whole Truth (2021). This is the first movie either of us have ever watched in Thai, and probably the first movie we've watched that neither of us could understand a word of, but slap some subtitles on and it's no big deal. This is a solid ghost story with lots of family drama and secrets and mystery and even at the end when you think every secret has come out it's evident that the whole story still hasn't been told. I enjoyed every single thing about this movie and how chilling it was. The only thing we both deemed ridiculous was how grey and animatronic the ghost looked. 

12. The Visit (2015). M. Night Shyamalan movie without a trailer, but we decided to give it a go. Shyamalan is either really good or just falls flat on its face. There's no in-between. This movie however was thoroughly chilling and unpleasant and absolutely perfect. There isn't a lot of action, but the suspense just keeps building up until the very end. Where it starts out slow, it ends up super intense.