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Saturday is Horror Day #154 – The Mimic, Silent Night (2012), The Midnight Meat Train

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Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

The Mimic

The Jangsan Tiger is an urban legend of South Korean, a creature that lures its prey by mimicking sounds such as a woman’s wail. Hee-uyeon (Yum Jung-ah) and her husband Min-ho (Park Hyuk-kwon) are unaware of this. All they know is their son has been missing for five years and they feel the might to get away.; They take their daughter Jun-hee (Yu-sul Bang) and Hee-yon’s mother Sun-ja (Heo Jin) to the countryside in an effort to get away from their troubles. But new troubles arise, including Jun-hee’s growing dementia. Min suggests the woman needs care, as in a home, but Hee-yon won’t hear of it, unwilling to lose another family member.

Their new home is near an old forest, and in that forest is a cave…

The Mimic is a horror story, but it’s also about loss and grieving – the woman who mourns the son who disappeared and won’t accept that he is probably dead, as well as the loss of her mother as she has always known her. The movie has an interesting opening, involving a couple who are up to no good at the cave, foreshadowing what is to come.

Everything clicks in this film, acting, writing, direction… It has a tremendous tension and suspense that only grows as the film goes on. The little girl is very cute too. I thought it was very well done, and I recommend it. I’ll give this film 4 Stars

Silent Night (2012)

Twas the night before Christmas in a small Wisconsin town, but all is not well. Deputy Jordan (Brendan Fehr) is missing, so Aubrey (Jaime King) has to come even to cover his shift despite having plans with her family, to her dismay. But Sheriff Cooper (Malcolm McDowell) has decreed it, so she has no choice. She hopes it will be a peaceful night, but no such luck.

Her first call concerns a Santa that is telling kids disturbing things. Santa Jim (Donal Logue) is rather

disgruntled and quite the cynic. After that, her next call leads her to a dead body… and suddenly the town is faced with the knowledge that someone dressed as Santa is on a murder spree. Trouble is, there are a lot of people dressed as Santa tonight, since it’s Christmas Eve. And this guy is an equal opportunity killer – men, women, or children, he kills them all.  Ho, ho, ho… Merry Christmas!

This was touted as a remake of the original Silent Night, Deadly Night, but they might as well have called it Silent Night Deadly Night 6. To be honest, it was better than I expected, given the last few films. But not great. I wasn’t bored, and it didn’t drag. Lots of violence and gore, which is what you expect from these films. Malcolm McDowell was wasted, though, as I never did buy him as a small town Midwestern sheriff. Should have saved the money and gone with someone else. The high point of this film, in my opinion, was Donal Logue, who improves anything he is in. He does every character he plays well. Also, listen for the line “what is this, garbage day?” That’s a reference from Silent Night, Deadly Night 2, spoken by Eric Freeman as Ricky (no, there’s no Ricky in this one). Just gonna plus Eric’s website, https://www.theeericfreeman.com/, where I bought a magnet with a photo of Garbage Day, and it was signed by Eric to me. For these two things, I’ll give this film 2 Stars.

The Midnight Meat Train

Leon (Bradley Cooper) is a photojournalist with big dreams, but so far he isn’t getting anywhere. An art gallery owner (Brooke Shields) suggests he isn’t really “getting it”, that he needs to go deeper. So he begins to wander the streets at night, desperate to achieve something, taking photos of random people, to his girlfriend’s (Leslie Bibb) dismay. He comes upon a gang of young men harassing a young woman in the subway station late one night and photographs the interaction before convincing them to leave her alone. He thinks he understands now, but when the woman turns up as missing, he is shocked. He begins to haunt the late night trains, not sure what he is looking for. But then he finds it…

This film is based on a short story by Clive Barker. What is odd is that until I started to watch it, I had

forgotten that I already watched it years ago, maybe when it came out in 2008. It’s not a bad story and not a bad film, but it’s also forgettable. Obviously, I forgot about it. I couldn’t seem to care about any of the characters, and I found the photographer’s obsession with the man on the train not just unsettling but stupid and not worth risking his life over, much less his girlfriend’s life. And then the ending…. it was like I said to my kid after I watched it – it was all about the destination, not the journey. I think the ending was meant to shock, but it was more like, Really?

If you like Clive Barker, do yourself a favor and stick to Hellraiser (just the first two) or Nightbreed. Like I said, it’s not a bad film, I just think it could have been done better. Maybe find the story and read it first before you decide to watch it. I’ll give this film 2.5 Stars

Saturday is Horror Day #82 – Let the Right One In, Carnival of Souls, The Intruders

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Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

Let the Right One In

Oskar (Kare Hedrbrant) lives with his mother in an apartment building. The delicate-looking 12-year-old is something of a loner, and is bullied by some of the boys at school. He meets a most unusual girl name Eli (Lina Leandersson). She doesn’t go to his school, he only sees her at night, and she is always asking to be invited in. But she isn’t judgmental, and he finds himself attracted to her as they grow closer.

But Eli has a secret, one she can’t afford to have discovered. One that keeps her and her guardian constantly changing locations. When the unthinkable happens, and Eli is forced to fend for herself, Oskar is afraid he will lose the most important person in his life.

This Swedish film puts a new spin on an old theme. It’s done quietly and seductively, and yet the horror shines through. It’s darkly romantic and also visceral. Well written and directed and acted, I would highly recommend it. I’ll give it 4 Stars

Carnival of Souls

A drag race between two cars filled with young people leads to tragedy when the car containing three young women plunges off a bridge. At first there are feared to be no survivors, but then Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) emerges from the water. Mary makes a fresh start, moving to a new town to become the church organist, although she insists that the church is just a place of employment, nothing more. She rents a room from Mrs. Thomas (Frances Feist), which is more than adequate for her needs. The only other resident is John Linden (Sidney Berger), who is more than a little weird.

After learning of an abandoned carnival, Mary visits the site with her employer, the minister (Art Ellison), but he won’t be party to entering the grounds. Mary returns later and wanders about. She finds she is drawn to this place and can’t stay away. But unsettling things are happening, most frightening of which is a strange man who appears at the oddest times and places, including inside her own home. But no one else seems to notice him. And there are times when people seem not to hear or see Mary herself…

This film came out in 1962 and is in black-and-white, which adds to the eeriness of what’s going on. It

doesn’t rely on blood and guts to produce a feeling of horror. Even though the ending is not difficult to figure out, watching Mary reach that conclusion is worth the price of admission. I can see why it’s considered a cult classic. I’ll give it 4 Stars.

The Intruders

Rose Halshford (Miranda Cosgrove) and her father Jerry (Donal Logue) relocate from California to Chicago following the death of Rose’s mother. Rose is less than pleased with the move but had no say in the matter. At the suggestion of her psychiatrist, she is taking off a semester from school. But Rose doesn’t like this new house. It’s creepy and old and needs a lot of work. When she meets the girl across the street, Leila (Jenessa Grant), the girl wonders how can they even stand to live in that house. What does that even mean?

Rose’s father has hired people to work on repairs to the house. One morning Rose comes upon one, unaware he has keys to the house, and hits him with her phone. Afterward, she apologizes to Noah (Austin Butler) and they become friends. Rose has been given medication to help her deal with everything, but she stops taking it, although she lies to her father and tells him she is taking it. She hears things in the house, and strange things are happening when her father isn’t home, which is most of the time. But no one believes her, and she’s afraid they’re going to convince people she’s crazy and lock her up. Her mother had been diagnosed with schizophrenia before she died…

Rose goes into the basement and almost gets locked in. She finds a name carved into the wall, and wonders who Rachel is. Turns out Rachel used to live in that house. She was taken in by the previous owner who lived there with her son. But Rachel disappeared. More and more, Rose is convinced that something happened to Rachel, but what? But everything she does seems to end badly, and she’s afraid her father doesn’t believe her any more. Can she convince him of the truth before it’s too late?

This is a fairly decent movie that isn’t obvious from the beginning, like some are. I had various theories as to what was going on, and they were all wrong. I am a huge fan of Donal Logue, and he does his usual good job, not to mention looking pretty good. Miranda Cosgrove is good as Rose, sufficiently confused and horrified and determined to not get on your nerves. I would recommend watching it. I’ll give it 3.5 Stars.