Oct 31, 2021

Monthly Media Recap - October 2021

 Well ghouls, we made it! As usual, I'm posting the Monthly Recap in case you're looking for something new to you to check out tonight. Weather permitting, I'll be heading into Salem to creep people out. Hopefully I can add some new pics to @SalemCreep on Instagram. Whatever you do tonight, have fun and stay safe!

Note: This post contains affiliate links. It's also a bit long :)


Books

I don't usually include books but since it's Halloween and I'm not great at doing long reviews, I wanted to mention Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix. If you're a fan of slasher movies, I highly recommend this new twist on the genre. Hendrix is pretty much my favorite horror author, you can't go wrong with any of his books!

Streaming

I was hooked on this when the trailer was released. It went beyond my expectations as another take on Battle Royale. The story was good, the human aspects were great, and the games were brutal. Very interested to see where it goes if there's a sequel. 
 
Another good run of episodes all perfect for Halloween viewing! The ep Drug Traffic sticks out as a favorite because I had no idea where it was going.

So. Much. Fun! It was almost everything I could have wanted from this crossover. Plenty of ride references plus callbacks to the OG Muppet Show. Pepe has become my favorite "Muppin" so it was nice for him to share the spotlight. My only minor complaints are I feel they leaned too much on celeb cameos and it definitely could have used more Uncle Deadly. I mean if not here, where?!

This was pretty good. I think it was a bit limited catering to those that only know the MCU but I get why they went that way. The Dr. Strange ep was my favorite but then he is my favorite Marvel character! My favorite moment of the entire series was the Party Thor vs Capt. Marvel throwdown. That was just awesome!

I was close to finishing S6 end of last month so I'm tossing it here. Still have some movies to go through before these girls are gone.

Movies

V/H/S/ 94 (2021, Shudder)
This was a very nice surprise! All the anthology stories were great with a variety of creatures and there's some gore spattered about for good measure. One of the stories felt like a Black Mirror episode which made me remember how much I miss that series.

Rating: 7/10



Individually, a lot of the parts of this movie are not good like the acting and the dialog dubbing. The gore effects are pretty good (for 1982) and the killer's theme is excellent. Roll it all together and you've got something that's mostly so bad it's good with an ending that you'll definitely remember!

Rating: 6/10

When I originally saw the trailers for this I was lukewarm at best thinking it was Universal trying to make Monsters happen again. Then I started hearing good things about it. It's a much different, more modern, take on the story and was really good. It's got some good suspense and shocks. The How of the invisibility seems a little weird.

Rating: 8/10

Last year, I took part in a virtual Salem costume contest and won Scariest Costume. With that came a  Pass for Salem Horror Fest which gave me virtual access to all the shorts and films they screened this year. Here's what I checked out.

Salem Horror Fest Wicked Shorts


You Missed a Spot (2020)
If you watch nothing else from this entire post, I ask you give up 15 minutes of your time to view this short. I found it to be wickedly original.
Rating: 9/10

Welcome to Our Home (2020)
When Brad brings his liberal girlfriend home to meet his conservative parents, tensions escalate and monsters are unleashed. Literally! If you've ever watched a fight break out in a comments section over politics, it's pretty much that but with monsters.
Rating: 7/10
 
Miss Blueberry Beauty Pageant (2020)
A pageant run by vampires that eat the losers. A little comedic and definitely over the top hammy but still a good time.
Rating: 6/10

Salem Horror Fest Features
As I can't find trailers for some of these, I'm putting a synopsis in for them.


So Vam (2021)
Movies like this is why I will continue to watch Salem Horror Fest selections. These are the types of movies that I'd never find on my own and bring a fresh view to the horror scene. The movie was co-written, directed, and produced by a 16 year old trans girl who's making a name for herself on the horror scene.

Rating: 7/10

I Need You Dead (2020)
A young punk named DOOD manifests his most self-deprecating thoughts in the form of a furry, devil-tongued flesh ball, then must discover how to get rid of the creature before it convinces him to get rid of himself.
 
It started out as a wild punk/stoner horror flick and then flipped into a meta movie about the people trying to create the movie you're watching. I honestly think I would have enjoyed this more if I used a mind altering substance. This one just didn't click with me.
 
Rating: 4/10 

What Happens Next Will Scare You (2020)
Staying late on a Friday night, a motley crew of click-bait article authors are tasked with finding the top thirteen scariest online videos for a Halloween roll-out. When an early entry promises to curse whoever watches the cryptic link, our snarky writers must distinguish fact from fiction before a crescendo of paranormal disturbances lead to real-life murders.

This one was done by the folks behind the WNUF Halloween Special so that should tell you all you need to know! As odd as the summary might sound, everything clicked for me and I enjoyed the entire movie. There's a great variety in the "video clips" that really makes them feel like going down a YouTube rabbit hole. I should also mention this won the Horror Fest Audience Award!

Rating: 8/10



Bad Girls (2021)
Trailer is most certainly NSFW!
This isn't so much a horror movie as it is a violent road trip. If an amateur Tarantino made Natural Born Killers without most of the social commentary, this would be that movie.
 
Rating: 5/10 
 
Not a lot of full length movies for October but between Squid Games and Creepshow, that's several hours of movie watching time well spent. Let me know if you've seen anything good lately, horror or not, in the comments and have a great Halloween!

Monthly Total
New: 6

Year to Date
New: 65   Rewatch: 0

2 comments:

  1. Just wanted to thank you for being a part of the Countdown to Halloween and letting us share your celebrating!

    ReplyDelete