Castlevania: A Surprisingly Good Video Game Adaptation

When discussing adapting video games into either movies or television, it is unavoidable to bring up the past and how most adaptations of these are either bad or downright awful. This is mainly a trend when it comes to films as there really haven't been many tv shows based on video games. Because of that, when I heard that Netflix was producing an animated Castlevania show, I can't say that I had overly high expectations. For anyone who has never played a Castlevania game (no judging), it is a games series that was at its highest in popularity from the late 80s to the mid 90s that follows a member of the Belmont family, renown for their vampire hunting, as they attempt to kill the Prince of Darkness himself, Dracula. It's a great idea for a fantasy movie or show that I had always hoped would be adapted at some point. Recently, however, it became clear that in this state of cinema, Castlevania wouldn't succeed. Last year saw the failure of four highly anticipated video game adaptations in Warcraft, Assassin's Creed, The Angry Birds Movie, and Ratchet & Clank. Honestly, it was starting to look like we would never see a quality video game adaptation on the big screen. 2016 was supposed to be the year that finally broke the video game curse, but instead just added fuel to the ever-growing fire. While Castlevania might not be the big screen smash hit to break this curse, it is a small screen wonder that gives a little hope for the future of these adaptations.
So what is it that makes this show so good? I could drone on and on about good editing and solid storytelling, but instead I'm going to focus on the the big strength of the show that I haven't seen from a single video game adaptation yet: solid, well-rounded characters. It is undeniable how great the writers and voice actors did at crafting these beloved characters, making them three dimensional and quite likable. Trevor Belmont, our main hero, is a character that can be done very wrong very fast by making him pompous, melodramatic, or moody. Thankfully, he is a strong central lead to the series that the audience wants to see succeed. The real scene stealer, however, is Dracula himself. Unlike Belmont, we already know that Dracula can be done well, and that is where his problem begins. Dracula has had many iconic performances in film, especially from the likes of Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, and Gary Oldman. How then can this Dracula stand out in an already crowded room? To make matters more complicated, he's animated, severely limiting any sort of body performance an actor could do. Additionally, we have also seen this character done horribly wrong. Look no further than Blade Trinity or Van Helsing to name a few. What makes this Dracula so good, though, is how sympathetic he is. His reasons for becoming the absolute evil he will become make sense given his predicaments. In fact, I would almost argue that I wanted to see him succeed to at least a certain point in his quest for revenge and justice. I've always had a soft spot for the character of Dracula, but I can't say I've ever actually seen his point of view and agreed with what he was trying to do. Hence, this show has actually given me a strength of Dracula I can't say I've ever seen before.
The heart and soul that was put into this show is quite obvious, which is great. Most adaptations feel like a shameless cash grab to capitalize off of an already existing audience. In fact, it isn't uncommon for a video game movie to have very little to do with the actual game that it is adapting. While these things may not be obvious to those watching with no experience playing the games, I do feel that the emptiness beneath the material is noticeable to anyone watching one of these adaptations. With this show, Castlevania was able to find two valuable traits in its producers and writers that are hard to come by: fandom and talent. It's easy to find fans that have no filmmaking talent or talented filmmakers who have no fandom, so that makes finding that perfect hybrid rare but extremely valuable. It is clear that Netflix has found this hybrid to put together this show that will hopefully begin to reverse the curse that has existed since the early 1990s.

Slasher

For this week, I decided to write about a show that is slowly becoming near and dear to my heart. I don’t think I gave this show enough credit the last few weeks, even though I had been writing my genre paper all about it. The paper, after a while, was not necessarily something I had been taking seriously just because I honestly had no idea what I was doing. I was focusing on other assignments as well, so I only wrote about the pilot episode of my chosen show. That I consider to be one of my biggest mistakes about that paper. So, when I got home for break, I decided I needed something to binge if I was ever just sitting in my room. I thought, well, what about this one show that I hadn’t gotten the chance to before. In that, for this week’s blog, I decided to write a sort of update on my newest binge show, Slasher.

Now, I know I’ve stated before my love dystopian shows and things of that nature. In that, shows where everything is going wrong is sort of just a knock off dystopian, so I still enjoy it. I also just love the horror genre in general. Slasher has definitely been doing a great job at being a horror show, with all the gruesome moments I’ve witnessed and suspenseful scenes, especially when I as an audience member knows something that everyone else should know about too (such as the whereabouts of a lost girl). Also, for being an underrated Netflix Original, I think they’re doing a pretty good job at getting the audience hooked. I have been dying to know who “The Executioner” is every episode. Any time we seem to get clues about who it could possibly be, the show seems to give a reason why it’s not that person. More on The Executioner, the costume design for him is so well done that I’m always terrified every time we see him. I only refer to him as “him” because every time he’s spoken, it seems very low and raspy, and definitely more masculine. Maybe that’s a way to throw us off, but for now, it’s him. The Executioner is all dressed up, head to toe, in a black cloak and mask. He even wears black gloves to cover his hand, and though we haven’t seen a ton of close ups, it seems there’s also black makeup around his eyes so you can’t even see anything under the mask. I hate to say it, but the guy eerily looks like a KKK member with the way he’s dressed. However, that may be done on purpose. One of the biggest lead in the case to solving who the murderer is is that the police and Sarah, the protagonist, believe the murders are being carried out based on the seven deadly sins, with the killings replicating the biblical punishments for each sin. Supposedly, the killings are religion based. Going into these speculations more, or should I say, who’s speculating them, Sarah is still playing the amateur sleuth in the series. If anything, each of the genres picked for the show, horror and mystery, are simply being more solidified. We see all the gruesome murders play out, and get to feel the suspense of those preyed, but we also get an inside look at the investigations and speculations.

In all, I’m excited to continue the series, and hope to maybe even finish the second season by the end of next week. Of course, all wishful thinking, but it’s possible. As long as I’m not socializing too much. Anyway, back to binging it is!

Stranger Things to a teacher

Two days ago, I just finished watching the last episode of season two of Stranger Things. I have to say that watching this series on Netflix is one of the most interesting adventures which I decided to do since I have studied university in the US. Today I am going to write a blog to my high school’s English teacher in Vietnam to recommend that she should watch this movie.
Because my teacher is a fan of a horror movie so that why she must watch Stranger Things. Although Stranger Things cannot compare with famous horror movies like Insidious, The Conjuring, or the Excorsist, it still creates its own style. The first outstanding element in Stranger Things is its sound effect. Everybody has to agree that besides images, the sound effect is very important in describing the horror movie. Because the main purpose of the horror movie is to scare people with haunted pictures and sudden sound. The technique which the filmmakers use in this film is that before the sudden sound, everything will be completely quiet. The audience cannot detect any sound. Then suddenly, “bang,” a loud sound will make the audience startled.  In horror movie, the professionals call it as a jump scare. In addition, creepy music from the movie and creepy sound from the “Things” is quite unique. Many filmmakers have produced horror movies based on monsters, aliens, or something ugly which people have not ever seen before. Although Stranger Things is produced later than those movies, the sound of the “things” is still unique which means the filmmakers did not copy it from the previous movies. Secondly, the way that the filmmakers establish the “things” is really terrifying. The filmmakers were really clever because instead of creating monsters which were exactly similar, they created monsters with a different outlook. From a tiny one like a hamster to a ginormous monster. Furthermore, with a mouth which is full of teeth and can open like an “X” word and a slimy and nasty body, the “things” can become a nightmare to everyone who is afraid of creepy creatures.
However, although the film is a horror genre, it still conveys a priceless lesson to the audiences: a mother can do anything to her children. In the movie, when Will was missing, no one believed Joyce, Will’s mother, that Will was contacting with his mother through the light. Although everyone was still searching for Will, they did not believe that Will was kidnapped by a monster. Everyone thought that Joyce was crazy, but she ignored every rumor and continued to find her son. Finally, she found her son, but then she realized that the monster was inside him and used him as a spy in the real world. She did not give up on her son and continue to save him. At the end, she would sacrifice anything to protect her son and get rid of the “things” inside him.
In conclusion, I think you should watch this movie. The astonishing pictures and catchy sound will lead you to a whole new adventure which you cannot expect.

Not A Marvel Series

Well after tragically losing time do to my watching the show I'm going to make highlights on. I find myself writing this at two A.M. After watching my way through all of the Marvel Netflix shows, I decided I had to do something totally different. So naturally I chose the show that everyone is always talking about, Stranger Things.

Stranger Things is the horror, thriller, suspense show that people won't stop talking about. It doesn't matter if you've seen it or not, someone has definitely spoiled things for you. It is a show that is kind of funny to write about. The best way to watch the show is to go in as blindly as possible. Minor spoiler warning ahead.

The show is set in the 80's, in a small town, with a mysterious government operation set up near it. The plot really gets kicked off when a boy named Will goes missing. Soon after some of Will's friends (I'm just going to call them the Loser's Club), find a girl with telekinetic powers going by the name Eleven. The show clearly draws inspiration from a lot of government conspiracies, most of them outright stated. This is always a good idea in my mind, it makes the story slightly closer to home while adding intrigue and an alien feel, all at the same time.

I really don't like talking about actors, but the kids in particular are well written and acted. I've never been a huge user , or advocate of them as a child, but kids swearing is so natural. I can't stand it when kids in movies are angels, naive, and stupid, it just isn't right. Kids are actually quite smart when they put their minds to things, and more than that, they are devils at times.

Big thing I want to talk about is a slight thing I've begun to notice after my three episode session of the show. This movie seems to have an obsession with doubles, and counterparts. The monster, is referred to as the Demigorgon. I do have a knowledge of Dungeons and Dragons, and I can tell you that the Demigorgon in universe has two heads. There are two worlds, I've picked up on the fact that the other world is basically a copy of ours. The research lab is doubling as a company and a government conspiracy. Of course Eleven, two ones, same way forwards and backwards.

I'm not sure how correct any of this is, but I'm quite certain the monster and Eleven are one in the same. Whenever the monster appears or Eleven uses her powers, lights begin to flicker, and electronics stop working. Also a few scenes of theirs have some parallels in what they do and the way scenes are shot. I'm not saying they're the same thing, but they're definitely connected. Although this may be obvious to some I felt like it was worth mentioning.

I do like this show. I do recommend it, I'm not sure if the show is trying to say something or if I'm over analyzing again. But seeing as duality is already showing to be a constant theme, we can make the assumption that I am correct. It will be next week before I can verify my guesses, but I actually do for once plan on watching this all the way through.

Stranger Things

This weekend, Halloween approached and many people were excited for their beautiful, lovely, or even creepy costumes that they showed each other. This past weekend for me, besides hanging out with my friend, I watched the first episode of “Stranger Things” and wrote a blog post about it. When I chose to watch “Stranger Things”, I knew that this adventure would provide me with many unexpected and maybe even some dangerous experiences. However, you do not know what is waiting for you until you actually do it. Therefore, I was really enthusiastic to watch this show. In this blog, I will discuss horror elements of Chapter One: The vanishing of Will Byers.
The first episode started with a dark scene with the wind whispering. I began to watch the first episode at midnight; so believe it or not, I have already felt scary at the first minute of the movie. The filmmakers are really professional when combining the wind sound and the creepy music with the laboratory scene. Laboratory always makes the audiences visualize that something is really disgusting will jump out from the nowhere and kill the person in that scene. The scene in the movie happens exactly as same as the imagination of the audience. However, the filmmakers have predicted the audiences’ thought, so before that scene, they focused on filming the door without any sound. The effect of this trick is that the audiences may know that after this, there will be something comes out but they do not know when. Then, the door suddenly opens with a noisy sound. Be honest, I was panic, jumped out of my chair and paused the movie immediately. At that moment, I could hear the sound of my heart beating. It is really interesting that the thing comes out of the door is not an ugly creature. It is a scary scientist who tries to run away from anything. Once again, a legendary motive is used in this movie: trying to escape the creature by using the elevator. The filmmakers try to make the audiences think that the creature will grab the scientist from behind and drag him to it. Unfortunately, the catching scene, ironically, begins when the scientist entered the elevator and was ready to escape. What an unexpected way to begin the first episode.
Then in the scene when Will rides back home, it is really horrifying if there is something suddenly appears in the middle of the road. However, before that, the light from the bicycle turned off and then turned on in a few seconds, but this amount of time is enough to distract Will from the road. Then a dark, creepy, and unknown thing popped up. Will was scary and could not control the bike probably. He rode off the road and crashed. As same as another horror movie, Will ran home in frightening and called for help, but he could not hear anything from the opposite. He ran to the storage, loaded the gun and prepared to fight back. However, it was too late. Unlike the beginning of the movie which the scientist was caught when the creature was on the top of the elevator, this time the creature stood right behind him. The filmmaker can reveal the true identity of the mysterious living thing, but the camera only films the light bulb which is brighter and brighter. Then, bang Will disappear without any clue. The thing which the audiences know about this creature is his creepy voice.
The first episode only has two remarkable scenes but it helps me to make a decision: binge-watch this series now. Besides analyzing the horror element in this episode, I want to say one thing to my future family: if you can read this line, you have to know that do not be afraid of doing anything. You have to go with it, and maybe something bad will happens to you. However, sometimes, bad thing can become a good thing if you consider it as an experience.

1922: Killing is Bad, m'kay?

1922 is the latest Stephen King adaptation to come out this year and the second to be released and distributed by Netflix. Directed by Zak Hilditch, the film follows the James family as they endure internal fighting in 1922, leading to father Wilfred and his son Henry (Thomas Jane and Dylan Schmid, respectfully) murdering Arlette, the family's unloving wife and neglectful mother. Without getting into spoiler territory, the rest of the film details the effects the murder has on the family, leading to complete misery.
In a year in which It was very good, Gerald's Game was very good, and The Dark Tower..... was a movie, I think 1922 takes the cake and is also one of the better King adaptations of the past 30 years, maybe all time. While I don't think the film holds a candle to King's best adaptations, I do think it is easily on of his ten best.
All of the performances here are terrific, especially Thomas Jane. Jane was previously in another King adaptation The Mist and now returns to give the performance of his career. Even though his character is a cold blooded murderer, Jane is able to give his character s strong level of likability and sympathy. Dylan Schmid's performance as the son Henry was also great, especially considering his role had to have the most range associated with it. Schmid has to go from innocent quiet farm boy to selfish mean spirited in the blink of an eye, something a young actor like himself pulls of quite convincingly. To round out the cast is Molly Parker as the cold Arlette. Parker is also fantastic here as she is terrific at playing such a soulless, selfish, unlikable character. She's so unlikable that it doesn't surprise me that the two guys wanted her dead.
The atmosphere of the film is also terrific as the film feels very eerie and tense throughout. This is a combination of the directing, the solid musical score, and the setting. A horror film set on a mid American farm is nothing new, but the reason for that is because it can be so effective. With the score, it sounds eerily similar to The Shawshank Redemption (ironically another King adaptation), except there is something much darker and sinister going on with it. You can just tell listening to the music that something bad is going to happen. I think the score played a big part in making the film as good as it was. Finally is the directing by Hilditch, who clearly had a good vision for the story and what he wanted to bring to the table. Instead of directing it as a straight horror film, Hilditch decides to film it more as a drama-psychological thriller that definitely helps to distinguish itself from other King works as well as the other horror films to come out this year.
The final thing I strongly want to focus on here is the fantastic themes of the film. Even though what Wilfred and Henry do is completely wrong, they still do have actually decent reasons. Not only is Arlette the definition of a woman you don't want to be a mother or wife, but she was going to uproot the family to the city, destroying Wilfred's livelihood and ruining Henry's relationship with a farm girl which clearly is more than just a fling. On top of all of that, neither character is inherently a bad person. That all said, the murder destroys their lives as Wilfred begins to slip into madness and Henry life is ruined as he falls down a path of crime. What makes this all the much better is that they both get away with it in the end. It really is great to see a movie that deals with murder and is bold enough to say that maybe going to jail isn't the worst consequence of murder. This is all summed up by Wilfred at the end of the film with his final lines being, "In the end, we all get caught." He might not have been caught by the police, but he was caught in a much darker, moral way. So many films romanticize murder making it look like nothing. This is a film that decides instead to show what murder might actually do to someone psychologically.
It is a horrible thing to take another human being's life, something that is against every human law this Earth has ever had. It is never okay, even if you have the "best intentions." Murder is something you'll have to live with for the rest of your life, behind bars or not. To my future child, it is never okay to kill someone, no matter what. To finish with a quote from Clint Eastwood's Best Picture Winner Unforgiven: "It's a hell of a thing, killing a man. Take away all he's got and all he's ever gonna have."
Anyways, if you get a chance to check it out, I highly recommend it, especially with Halloween just around the corner.

Gerald's Game

Gerald’s Game is a horror movie based on Stephen King’s novel Gerald’s Game. Stephen King is a famous horror novel writer, and many of his works were adapted into movies. Similar to his other works, he made a big effort in narrating the protagonists’ background and how their personality change. The movie is composed mostly by dialogue, which makes the audience feel bored. However, the protagonist’s excellent acting and the meaning behind the movie make it become a good movie.

There were three cages in this movie. This most explicit one was the handcuffs that locked Jess, the protagonist, on the bed. Jess’s husband died because he got too angry after having the pill for ED treatment when they were playing sex game. There was no people live near to the house, so Jess had no way to call for help. She could not move, but she had to escape from the handcuff otherwise she would die of hunger or teared by the hungry dog. During her stay on the bed, she started to recall her marriage life and her childhood by a series of imaged conversation between Jess and another Jess and another Gerald.

The second cage was the cage from her husband. Gerald was a man who suffered from erectile dysfunction, but always wanted to play some strange sex games. Gerald was an arrogant man who despised others and did not respect female. Jess did not want anybody to know her unhappy marriage, so she always pretended she had a sweet husband though she was not happy at all. She did not have the courage to leave the cage given by her husband.

The third cage was from her dear father. In the eclipse day, her father told her that he missed the time when she was a little who sat on his lap. Jess’s father asked her to sit on the his lap again, and jerked off when Jess was watching the eclipse. After that Jess’s father threatened her to not tell anyone what happened, so She decided to keep silent. Her father’s behavior impressed her life greatly. When she married to her husband who liked her father, her life in cages became harder and harder. The imaged conversation continued and went deeper which made her realize she had to escape from all three of cages to save her life physically and mentally.

This movie mentioned two kinds of relationship, relationship between marriage and sex, and the relationship between parents and children. Jess and Gerald’s marriage was similar to Jess’s parents’. Both husbands were not loyal to their wives and both wives chose to not speak out. The wife thought her tolerance to the disloyalty would win back her marriage, however this would only make the gap between husband and wife wider. They wasted their lives in the hopeless marriage.

Jess did not have a healthy relationship with her parents which caused a series of problem on Jess. Jess’s father was a pedophile who abuse his own daughter, while her mother did not help Jess even though she realized her husband’s special love to daughter. Jess’ mother’s indifference made the situation worse.  

In the end of the movie, Jess escaped from the handcuffs by cutting off her hand. She finally came out from the nightmare of her marriage and childhood. The movie had a meaningful ending that telling people sometimes difficulties are smaller than you think. In all, the detailed inner speech and the protagonist’s excellent acting made Gerald’s Game a great movie. It had a educational meaning to every family member. Be nice to your children if you are a parent. Be brave to leave your unhappy marriage if you are a wife. Be brave to speak out and seek for help if you are a child.

Stranger Things, Pilot (The Disappearance of Will Byers)

Yep.

Now, this is actually a very good choice for two reasons. First off: The second season of Stranger Things is set to premiere only about a week from now, so this is very timely. Second, despite the popularity of the show and that my mom (who I'm writing this for) loves horror movies and the paranormal, she has not seen this show (though I hope to show her it during midterm break). So, mom, if you're reading this, let me introduce you.

If you're not aware about the plot, it's kind of hard to simplify without proper context. But let's try it anyway. Essentially, it's 4 different plots over one another: A kid by the name of Will goes missing under "mysterious circumstances" in Hawkes, Indiana. So, three friends of the kid go out to try and find him, and they come across a "weird" girl named Eleven that could possibly help them get to Will, Will's mother having to deal with the increasing mental stress of her son being missing, leading to numerous hallucinations(?), one of the 3 kid's sister and Will's brother trying to piece together what happened to Will, and the town's police chief thoroughly investigating into the case, with it having to greatly involve a "questionable" facility located nearby the town. To say any more would be spoilers. Basically, it's E.T., The Goonies, and St. Elmo's Fire mixed with Super 8 and Splice (if you remember or even know that movie).

And for you having been in your 20's during the 1980's, you'll be pleased to hear that this show takes a LOT of influence and style from 80's culture, but with authenticity (as far as I can tell), rather than just a nostalgiafest solely to celebrate the 80's. Really, the time setting is just a way for the story to be told in a simpler time, which would make the idea of going up against a....threat like this wouldn't be as scary if it was set in modern time, where things are a bit more complicated. But otherwise, there's a lot of stuff in here you'd expect out of 1984 like Dungeons and Dragons, The Clash, the Evil Dead, etc., along with all the fashions and vehicles used throughout the show.

Now, as for the part I have to write for the class (specifically, the part where I acknowledge or even praise a certain aspect of the filmmaking into a Netflix original, such as the cinematography, sound, etc.), what I like about Stranger Things in comparison with other horror movies on Netflix (and I would say most modern horror films, but that's generalizing. Go see It Comes At Night. It's fantastic), is that it's actually shot and paced like an ACTUAL well-made horror film (for the opposite effect, go watch the abomination that is #Horror). There's no shaky cam, little-to-no stupid things done for the sake of a horror film (like hiding in an abandoned house), and there's only like one REAL jumpscare throughout the whole franchise, which is paced perfectly. In fact, all the scary moments (or at least the moments that are creepy for the ambience) in this show are paced brilliantly, like the credits of "The Bathtub" (which is incidentally after the one jumpscare in the show). The scenes are near-quiet, save for some small environmental noises and an ambient soundtrack to back it up. And that intro music is just sublime.

On the whole, I very much recommend the show. In fact, I've already gone through the whole season within 2 days before, and I intend to rewatch it in lieu of Season 2 coming out soon. And mom, if you're reading this, I want to show the show to you when I get home for midterm break. Trust me, if you liked Super 8, you're going to love this.

Hush Now, Everything Won't be Fine

So after watching Blade Runner 2049 and being completely wrecked and drained on an emotional level (in the best possible way), I decided to calm down and watch a Netflix Original. Because it's October, I obviously had to watch a horror film, so I settled on Hush. Hush is directed by Mike Flanagan (the same guy who directed Gerald's Game) and stars Kate Siegel as a deaf woman who is being hunted by a deranged serial killer (John Gallagher) in the woods. While Hush is obviously nowhere near as epic and masterful as the new Blade Runner, it was definitely one of the best slasher films of the 2010s.
Going off of our prompt of arguing someone of the opposing opinion, I feel like this is the perfect movie to do that with. Most modern slasher films are very poorly regarded and deservedly so. Some of the most recent in the genre include the Hatchet trilogy, The Gallows, and a whole slew of remakes based on the original slasher flicks. It really is no question as to why the genre has gained such a poor reputation over the years. This film, however, is one of the best made slasher films since the original Scream. Unlike most modern horror films in general, Hush is well written, well directed, and well acted. Most films of its nature over bloat the runtime with obnoxious characters that are there simply to be cannon fodder for the killer. In this film, only a few people are murdered, and none of them are annoying. In fact, some of the people that are killed in the film only appear to be killed. However, like I previously stated, only a few people are actually killed in the film, which to me makes it more suspenseful than most slashers. It is common for films in the genre to have the killer slaughter dozens of people usually in creative ways which completely undermines the overall intensity of the situation.   So, not only is the film just a better movie than most slasher films, but it is also more thrilling than most.
Another reason people could oppose the film is because it seemingly is just like any other run of the mill killer in the woods kind of film. However, that is where they would be seriously wrong. The main character in the film is deaf, which means that much of the film is completely silent. This is honestly incredibly original, which is fascinating considering how many horror films there are. The character's disability also allows the writing to avoid deus ex machines that many films have to rely on to keep the survivors in the situation, usually by having them make stupid decisions such as hiding in obvious locations. In fact, the main character is also incredibly intelligent. This is a case where somehow the film is able to make a cake and eat it as well. Remember how I mentioned only a few people are killed in the film? Well, that's because there are only five characters in the entire movie. That's right: FIVE. This is completely fresh in the stale, tried and true formula horror films use which involves using as many characters as possible. Additionally, the lack of characters helps to keep the film going at a steady pace as well as never becoming an overly long film.
I would also like to point out another fresh idea that the film brings to the table: we actually follow the killer quite often. Not only that, but he has a face and a personality, a far cry from horror icons such as Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees. Not only that, but the killer in this case is the less intelligent one, another far cry in horror films. Most horror villains are the smartest characters in their films, such as Freddy Krueger and Hannibal Lecter. Even though the likes of Jason and Michael Myers may not seem smart, they are quite cunning in their own rights as well as creative when it comes to using makeshift on the spot weapons. John Gallagher's killer here, simply credited as The Man, is not one of these characters. In fact, he at times has more in common with the Three Stooges, constantly injuring himself.
Finally, one of the sharpest and most common criticisms to befall slasher films is that they commonly are unrealistic and that most of the situations in those films would never happen in real life. Hush, on the other hand, feels all to real at times. The main antagonist is unmistakably human as he can be beaten and is hurt often. Unlike other "human" horror villains, The Man is built like an average sized person with no seemingly superhuman qualities that many slasher villains seemingly possess (I'm looking at you Leatherface). Not to mention, we never actually get some lame motivation for why he kills. All we know is that he just does kill. The film additionally double as a home invasion film, which is one of the more realistic and possible genres in horror films. Most importantly, the main character is not invincible. In fact, she is fighting consciousness following an injury she receives from the killer throughout a decent chunk of the film. Much of the film has both the antagonist and protagonist exchanging small blow to each other. By the end, both are seriously banged up and have one foot in death' door. For most of the film, I actually believed that she could perish at the end, something almost unheard of in horror films.
Overall, Hush is definitely an inventive, original film in a genre that has seemingly played out ever single scenario possible. It also helps that the film is much better edited, acted, directed, and written than most films in the genre. If you aren't a fan of slasher films or the current state of horror films, I definitely recommend checking out this underrated flick.

Gerald's Game: Yes, Your Kinks Will Get You Killed

After listening to Nick Toti's speech, I decided that I definitely wanted to watch a horror film for this week's blog. While I'm a huge horror fan regardless, Mr. Toti made me more interested than usual in watching one of the specific genre. So, I picked the most surreal and psychological horror film that Netflix Originals had to offer: Gerald's Game, based off of the 1992 novel of the same name written by horror icon Stephen King. The adaptation is directed by one of horror's brightest new stars Mike Flanagan (Hush, Oculus). The basic plot of the film revolves around a married couple played by Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood. After experiencing extended marriage problems, they decide to get their kink game on in the remote summer house to spice their love up a bit. The situation turns a 180 when Greenwood's Gerald suddenly dies of a heart attack during their "love making," leaving Gugino's Jessie handcuffed to the bed posts, unable to get out of them. Gerald's Game, along with It, has definitely made 2017 a strong year for Stephen King adaptations (minus The Dark Tower of course).
The first thing I want to focus on is the psychology of the film. This is a film that is every bit about a woman forgiving her tragic past as much as it is about her trying to escape. Essentially, the plot is just there to act as a window to exploring this woman's past, eventually taking a back seat to the real plot: Jessie becoming psychologically strong enough to escape her demons, which I think is incredibly interesting. This is the closest movie that I may have ever seen before that actually allows you to know what the character is thinking without a narration. While tied up, Jessie talks to imagined versions of Gerald and herself, which also helps the audience understand how she views Gerald herself as well as how she wishes she really was with the imagined version of herself being calm, strong, and always offering good advise. Had the film been solely about her trying to escape her sexual death trap, then it would have gotten very old very fast.
The film also has a very interesting and thoughtful look at sexual abuse, something that was also explored in It. Unlike It, the sexual abuse is a much stronger element here and, while It did handle the controversial topic well, Gerald's Game handled it stupendously. Without getting to deep into spoiler territory, the events in the film are all basically caused by Jessie being abused as a child by her dad, played very well by a creepy Henry Thomas (by the way, that's Elliot, the little boy from E.T.). Through the use of superb editing, Jessie's past is gradually revealed through impeccably timed flashbacks, something most King adaptations struggle to do well (the original It from 1990). At first, Jessie will act in an odd way towards something seemingly innocent, which at first appears to be annoying. Later, however, the audience is shown why a certain event makes her tick in such a way, not only making her actions understandable but making the audience feel bad after judging her actions. The editing of the film is almost poetic and very reminiscent to the work done on last year's multi-Oscar winner Manchester by the Sea. Had the editing not been done well, the whole sexual abuse aspect would come off as odd and out of place.
I really must also sing the praises of the acting in this film as, for the most part, the film consists solely of the three actors I have previously mentioned, all who did a wonderful job. Gugino definitely shined in her dual role as her imaginary and real self, easily flipping between helpless and distraught to confident and strong. Greenwood is also terrific in probably the best role of his career. For most of the film he plays the imaginary Gerald, a far cry from the lovable, reserved real one who lays on a floor dead while being eaten by a stray dog for much of the film. This Gerald is insincere, narcissistic,  and manipulative. I personally have never seen Greenwood go so far out of his acting range as he did here, not to mention he did a great job of doing it as well. As I already have mentioned Thomas himself was also very good, mainly due to his creepy performance. His performance is very important to the success of the film as it is he who holds the whole abuse plot over his head. His performance as a perverted father feels all too real and far more accurate than these kinds of characters are normally portrayed as. It really is so weird seeing the lovable, cute Elliot from E.T. turn into a pedophile creepy dad, but Thomas really does pull it off quite strong.
The only real problem I did have with the film was the last 20 minutes. Without getting into spoilers, the first part of the finale is pretty generic and cliched. It's the kind of ending just by reading this blog post you could probably figure out. The second part is just odd and completely out of nowhere, concluding an unnecessary subplot that felt like it was in the movie just to make it more of a horror film than a thriller. While this subplot is actually generally creepy, it bogged the film down and messed with the overall themes and point of the film.
Overall, I think that Gerald's Game is the second best Netflix Original that I have seen up until this point. If you have not checked it out, I definitely recommend it, especially with today being the inaugural day of October, a.k.a. the month of Halloween. To Mr. Toti, I also recommend the film. It may not be overly surreal like a David Lynch film such as Eraserhead and it may not have an overly indie feel like It Comes at Night or It Follows, I still think it is one of the strongest hollywood horror films to come out in the past couple of years.

Movie Hush

Blog Post to Nick Toti

Nick Toti is a Truman State University graduate who is purchasing a career of film direction. His wife is a scriptwriter. Both of Nick and his wife lost direction after getting their bachelor’s degree, and both of them decided to gain a master's degree in Truman, where they found their new direction.

Hush is a horror movie similar to Don’t Breath. The reason why I decided to watch this movie was its rating was a little higher compared to other Netflix Original movies. Honestly, I don’t like Netflix original very much which was not as good as its original TV show. It is hard to connect to this horror movie to you Nick Toti, the positive young director, but I have to do it.

The protagonist was a deaf-mute writer Madison, who lived in an isolated house in a forest. After her friend and neighbor Sarah came to visit her and returned her books, Sarah was chased back to Madison house and killed by a masked man. The man took Madison’s phone, cut off the power in the house, and decided to kill Madison after he realized she was deaf-muted. Sarah’s boyfriend came to the house to look for her girlfriend, but was killed by the man too. Strangling by the man, Madison began to lose her conscious, however, before she became unconscious, she managed to grab a corkscrew and stabbed in the man’s throat.

Without screaming and crying, Hush was a very different movie compared to the normal horror movie. Even though the movie lack of sound effect, the director still set up a successful horrible atmosphere. This movie gave audiences a special experience of horror movie. Audience can feel the protagonist’s desperation via her facial expression and body language.

One thing interesting me was that, when Madison sat on the floor desperately, there was an inside voice talk to Madison. Madison talked to herself that she could not run because of her bleeding leg, she could not hide, and the one way to survive was to kill the man. Inner speech is important to our cognition to the outside world and ourselves. With my limited knowledge, I tend to hold a view that writers would have more inner speech compared to ordinary people because they always sit with silent and write their story down. I wonder if a script writer would have more inner speech compared to common people that are not writers?

In this film, the protagonist seemed to very enjoy her isolated life. I am interested in why the protagonist would like to live in an isolated house. It was easy to understand that a quiet environment contribute to the creation process, but is it necessary to live in an isolated place? Some people like to work at midnight in order to get an inspiration, but the protagonist was a deaf person which keeps her away from any noise. Living inside wood is a horrible thing. Maybe horror can inspire one’s creation.

In all, Hush was a great movie.

Another Series of Unfortunate Events

As said by my classmates, Ashley and John, this past week in class we analyzed the first four or five minutes of A Series of Unfortunate Events and nearly all of that was the opening credits, and song. As a person who read the books as a child, and watched the movie made in 2004, I was eminently under impressed with Netflix’s tv series. I can agree with John that Lemony Snicket, played by Patrick Warburton, was my favorite character. I was disappointed considering, I have always loved Neil Patrick Harris, and in the role of Count Olaf he just didn’t do anything to capture my attention and was not at all how I envisioned Count Olaf as a child.

I found that my opinion at the beginning was that I preferred the 2004 version of A Series of Unfortunate Events to the Netflix series, but when I went back to watch the movie to compare the two I found that many scenes from the first episode and the movie are significantly similar. Here is a scene from both the movie and the Netflix series:

In the side-by-side comparison, you can clearly tell that the scenes are deeply similar. In this scene, Count Olaf seems to frantically be showing the crowd a sheet of paper, and in the movie, you can’t quite tell what that paper is in this still. Looking at the judge in the background, I would assume that the piece of paper he is showing everyone is a legal document. In both scenes, Violet seems to be wearing a wedding dress and veil, and Count Olaf seems to be in a medieval suit. So one can conclude that maybe they are in a play where they are acting out a wedding, but when you take into account the looks on the faces in both scenes you start to obtain the inclining that maybe something is wrong.

I did notice that while plenty of scenes are extremely similar, the major difference between the two is the colour difference. In the movie, all of the scenes have muted tones and the characters all wear dark colors, which almost in some scenes blend them in with the background. Violet is a prime example of this contrast; in the movie she only wears black, but in the Netflix series, Violet is always wearing a pink dress and a baby blue cardigan. In fact, all of the siblings in the movie where some shade of gray or black, whereas in the series they are always wearing a bright colour, or some colour that makes them stand out.

In the end, I enjoyed the TV series and might continue to watch it, but I think that the 2004 movie will always hold a special place in my childhood. While there are hordes of differences between the movie and the series, and I only covered one, there are more similarities than I covered as well. Overall, if you have never read or seen the original A Series of Unfortunate Events this might be up your alley, but some might not appreciate the TV series being that the movie has a place in their heart. My advice would be to give the show a shot, and if you don’t like it you don’t like it, but maybe you find your next series to watch.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

So, in lieu of having to watch the first four minutes of A Series of Unfortunate Events for an assignment that we did in class, I was particularly intrigued in the first four minutes that I wanted to see the rest of it, and coming from someone who's never read the books, this opinion will be not only be solely based on from what I've seen in the show, but also what I've seen in the first episode, as it may or may not represent the series as a whole.
And what I was presented with was more or less of a mixed bag. Starting with the most apparent feature of the show is the cinematography and sets. As the story proclaims numerous times throughout that this is not a happy story, that can be seen very clearly in the cinematography and coloring of the scenes. Shots are typically in drab and muted colors, while very few shots (such as the judge's house) are in pure color. The most prevalent showcasing of this being nearly any scene within Count Olaf's home, as it is typically dark and full of grays and blacks. The camera work is also very interesting, as shots are typically steady (even in moving shots) and very horizontal, with lots of details in the background. The camera work is very reminiscent of something that Wes Anderson would film.
Now let's move on to the acting in the show, and this is where the "mixed bag" comes in. Neil Patrick Harris as Count Olaf is okay, which means a lot as I did not expect him to be any good as Olaf, and Joan Cusack as Justice Strauss was wonderful. But Patrick Warburton as Lemony Snicket/The Narrator was just fantastic, with him going as far as being my favorite part of the whole episode. But here's where problems start. The kids playing Klaus and Violet are just terrible. I know that they are children and acting would be harder for them, but they didn't even seem to try. When they're told that their parents died in a fire that burned down their mansion, and even when they go to examine the burned down mansion, they don't even look that sad, not even any tears. And towards the end of the episode, something happens to Klaus (which I'm not going to spoil) that should make him cry, but he just sounds slightly more stuffy than usual. Most other times, they're usually just very flat, and the man the plays the banker is kind of underwhelming in his performance, too.
The writing is also in the middle of the road.  A lot of the jokes did make me either chuckle or laugh, though some did fall flat. But otherwise, save for Patrick Warburton's narration, the writing didn't really click for me. A lot of the characters kind of seemed stereotypically terrible, and as I said, the kids are typically flat in their performances and mixed with some lackluster dialogue, it doesn't make for much of an experience, save for the numerous jokes throughout.
Now, chances are that some of these complaints can be argued using the book as a reference, like some of the stuff in the episode is made that way because of how it is in the book. Well, I might pick up the books sometime as I hear they're quite reliant on dark humor and are typically praised by critics and audiences alike. As for the show, I may end up watching the next episode, although it may be hesitant and largely because of the cinematography, the jokes, and Patrick Warburton.

Death Note

Death Note is a thriller based on Japanese manga named Death Note. Light, a high school student, picked up the Death Note and decided to kill all the criminals. With the name of Kira, he killed 400 people with his girlfriend. Kira was favored by some people,but some wanted to catch Kira, a murder. The director used different Mise-en-Scene techniques such as lighting, color, and composition,  to make the story more vivid.

The movie started with a sunny school day. The sun was shining and students were playing on the ground. The weather changed in a suddenly which indicated there were something about to happen. The wind started to blast everything up and it started to rain. A gust of wind brought LIght a mysterious notebook.

The director made the lighting change sharply to introduce the evil from the notebook. All lights were turned off unexpectedly in the school building when Light was reading the mysterious notebook in a classroom alone. It was dark in the hallway and the classroom was dim lit with some light from outside the window.

A lot of glass beads in different color rolled into Light. The colorful bead was strongly contrast with the darkness. At the time the evil showed up, Light was too scared to hit down the shelves. Plenty of small colored paper was flying in the air.   

Ryuk, the evil, taught Light how to use the notebook. Light killed a bully in his school first and killed the guy who killed his mother later. When Light was sitting in a gym reading the Death Note rules, Mia appeared in the screen. At the beginning of the movie, they just looked at each other in a long distance. This time, Mia sat beside Light, then she sat even closer to Light to talk about the bully’s death. The change of their physical distance showed the change of their relationship. After Light told Mia about the notebook, they were in relationship very soon.

They began to kill people that they thought to be a criminal. A world famous detective alias L was looking for Light. Light wanted to quit, but Mia still thought they were doing the right thing. They could burn a page in order to save the person whose name was on the page. But the burning would only work for once. Therefore, Mia wrote down Light’s name on the notebook. Once Light die, the notebook would automatically passed to Mia and save Light’s life. When Light realized that Mia wrote down his name, he calmed down and wrote some sentences on the notebook. At the time he was writing, many police were looking for Light. Light wrote and ran fast to meet with his girlfriend. In this short period, he used his pen to he killed his girlfriend and saved his own life even though both of them fell from a ferris wheel. His quick reaction corresponded to the beginning of the movie. He was a brilliant schoolboy who wrote paper for other.  

This story was a little bit confuse in the way how notebook worked. It looked like everybody could wrote on the notebook and killed people. If so, why should Mia killed Light in order to become the owner of notebook? Compared to the manga, the characterization in this movie was not as good as the mango. In the manga, the detective L was a genius and always kept calm. However, in this movie, L lost his head when his partner was missing.

Death Note Review

For my blog entry I recently watched the 2017 American version of the anime Death Note. Personally, I have never watched the anime and, quite frankly, am not a fan of the overall style of it. That said, the premise is very interesting and was directed by Adam Wingard, who had previously helmed the 2016 Blair Witch and The Guest, two movies that I really dug and find severely underrated. Not to mention, Willem Dafoe voices the main antagonist which is always a plus.

            Like one of my peers, JBurns2112, who also has a review for this movie up on the blog, the film is definitely flawed. That said, I found enough redeeming moments in the film to actually enjoy it for what it was.

            Let’s first get the negatives out of the way. First off is the writing. It was penned by three different writers (already a bad sign) whose previous work include “films” such as Immortals, The Lazarus Effect, and the 2015 Fantastic Four remake. Much like the writing in those, Death Note is constantly plagued by clichéd characters, horrible dialogue, a very generic narrative structure, as well as incredibly repetitive story elements. Using the repetition as an example here, the film follows a basic structure: character kills someone, character begins to doubt himself, character continues after encouragement from girlfriend and villain. This process is played out too many times. Additionally, the film has an undeserved “happy” ending that felt forced and did a complete 360 from where the plot had been moving beforehand. The characterizations of the protagonist Light and his girlfriend Mia are so boring and generic which are made all the worse by their actors Nat Wolff and Margaret Qualley. While I’ve never seen Wolff before, I saw Qualley in last year’s The Nice Guys where I thought she was great. I have a feeling that the bad performances were less on the actors here and more on the horrible writing. In all fairness, I don’t think even Christian Bale could have made this dialogue work. The bad writing then combined with bad editing to make the film feel very unbalanced throughout. Within the first ten minutes of the film, Light already has the Death Note. By the fifteen-minute mark, he has already shown his girlfriend his powers. Not even a half hour in and we’ve already seen the Light has basically killed almost every criminal out there. This leaves over an hour left to focus on the manhunt for him which, considering how fast the film started, felt very dragging and kind of boring. The other major problem with the film that I found was the cinematography. While I applaud Wingard and director of photography David Tattersall for trying to do some creative camerawork, it was way too much. They utilized a lot of unnecessary crane shots and zoom shots that did not work at all. These kinds of camerawork are effective in big budget blockbusters and huge epics, not a small town horror flick. In addition, there was way too much emphasis placed on slow motion that wore old by about the second use.

            Now that we have the negatives out of the way, let’s look at what was good here. The absolute best part of the film was the soundtrack composed by Leopold Ross and his Academy Award winning brother Atticus. Atticus Ross had previously done scores to films such as The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Gone Girl, all wonderful scores, and his expertise really shines through here. The score feels very synthesized, something that Wingard utilized to perfection in The Guest. Of all the films I’ve seen this year, this has to be one of the best scores of any of them. Another highlight of the film was the visual effects. As JBurns2112 mentioned in their review, the film takes great pride in showing off gory, Final Destination-esque deaths. Personally, I’m okay with that, especially considering I’m a huge horror movie buff. However, if the effects were mediocre, then I would have a problem with that. Thankfully, the makeup and gore effects are absolutely top of the line here. Of course when talking about the special effects of the film, I have to at least mention Ryuk, the “8-foot-tall demon-looking motherf%@#er” as described in the film by the protagonist. For a Netflix original, his effects weren’t bad. For the most part, they keep him in the shadows, which I think works for the best as it not only hides the CGI, but it also allows the character to remain more mysterious. The last positive I want to mention here are a few of the performances. The easy standout is Willem Dafoe as Ryuk, who stole every single scene he was in to an incredible degree. Another standout performance here was severely underrated character actor Shea Wigham (American Hustle, Silver Linings Playbook) as the protagonist’s cop father. Overall, while the two leads weren’t very good, much of the supporting cast was.

In conclusion, Death Note is slightly better than the typical run of the mill horror film mainly due to a few standout performances, the effects, and the music. Unfortunately, the horrible writing keeps it from being anything more than that, despite a solid premise.