angelboy-65389

Ok so here goes, I figured it out. This movie, is just a series of skits like it's predecessor 'The Witching Season.' However, in this movie although the skits aren't bad, they're not really very good either. Certainly not as good as the skits of 'The Witching Season' one of which the namesake of this movie was derived. The short 'They Live Inside Us' in 'The Witching Season' was much better than the full length movie. And therein lies the problem for the movie 'They Live Inside Us.' I suppose it was a clever enough idea to have an author writing the skits or short stories, and then becoming a part of them in the movie within a movie. But it just didn't materialize into a good plot, story, or movie. It was actually successfully done quite a bit better in the short skit 'They Live Inside Us' in 'The Witching Season' in which a writer with writer's block created a short story anthology within an anthology in about ten minutes rather than two hours. So in summary the short stories created by the writer (actor James Morris) in the gym length movie 'They Live Inside Us' weren't too bad, but the rest of the movie acted outside of those skits (even though yes of course I realize they are intentionally intermingled) was wholly unnecessary. They should not have tried to fabricate a movie around these video shorts. I think it would've played better if they would've just presented another round of video shorts as another anthology and follow up to 'The Witching Season.' They could've kept it abstract as they did in the original project and just focused on Halloween atmosphere, ambiance, cinematography, lighting, and nostalgia while teasing mild interplay within the story lines. But trying to run an entire movie over it the way they did with the full length version of 'They Live Inside Us' just trod all over it. Oh yeah, and it was boring. Really boring. If The Witching Season Productions (Ballif) will just keep it short and come back with more stand alone short skits compiled into another anthology, and just focus on those along with Halloween atmosphere with a little pumpkin spice nostalgia sprinkled in, I think they can produce another Halloweenie masterpiece.

The Witching Season series certainly was low, budget, and the acting clearly was not the best, but the Halloween atmosphere and ambiance were top notch. While I'm usually more critical of these type of movies, especially in the Halloween anthology genre, I not only give The Witching Season a pass, but also an "A" for Halloween effort. Also most other offerings in the Halloween anthology genre are just so bad and I absolutely include Trick R Treat (2007) when I say that, so you can hate me now, it only fuels my Halloween spirit.

While The Witching Season series is slightly mundane and a little vanilla, it's got a dash of pumpkin spice on it that makes it palatable. Being that it is a little mild and lacks absurd amounts of gore and jump scares that many bad Halloween movies suffer from, it's almost able to be recommended as a spooky Halloween genre series that you can watch with the whole family. This actually improved the rating on my opinion. Broader audience. It's also quick. Thankfully it doesn't drag out too long. Each episode gives you a little spooky ambiance and an idea of a Halloween scare and then politely excuses itself so you don't have time to examine and belabor it's shortfalls. Additionally The Witching Season opening credits of each episode are spot on dripping with Halloween nostalgia feels.

Episode 1: Killer on the Loose: Friday the 13th (Jason Vorhees) style hockey mask, Halloween ambiance, color, lighting, Halloween Valentine rose, and a little twist surprise ending.

Episode 2: Princess: Child's Play/Poltergeist, nostalgic Halloween decor, Halloween chef cooking show, Bunnicula, and of course a little pumpkin spice twist at the end.

Episode 3: Not Alone: X-Files Maulder minus Scully, that deep seeded fear we've ALL had from the shadow of a coat and hat hanging on a rack... Or is it a psycho killer?!?!?... Nope just your imagination, right?

Episode 4: They Live Inside Us: Ok I really like this skit or episode, but unfortunately it got turned into a full length movie by the creator/director and featured the same actor(s) the full length movie of the same name is pretty terrible and boring and completely loses the abbreviated feel of the skit. I. E. This episode was great, but 'They Live Inside Us' should've remained just that and never been extrapolated out into a full length movie. I hope the director (Baliff) does not intend to do the same with the other episodes, or at least if he does he's really got to expand the ideas and character development. You cannot just take a ten minute skit idea and drag it out into a feature length film. Although he's definitely not the only one guilty of doing this (pretty much every contemporary "Hollywood" movie lately).

Anyway, "They Live Inside Us" episode: An anthology inside an anthology. Writer's block, Shadow of The Shining, still better than Stephen King. The abbreviated plot actually does a better job of explaining itself that the movie of the same name. It's a kind of a is m Romero and Juliet tragic love story and maybe a little bit comical depending on how bad you think the acting is. It's not really that bad, again mostly just low budget.

Episode 5: Is That You?: More Halloween 'Spirit Cooking,' unfortunately the debut of Count Spookula (I actually like the recurrence of these silly characters throughout The Witching Season Films production company, like the weatherman also). They also seem to weirdly cripple a kid in every movie, and that's before the Halloween violence begins. This episode stand alone was a bit of a lame duck to end on but supported by the build up of the rest it was a noble enough effort and fits well into the cadre.

There are subtle nods and hints of cheesy Halloween nostalgia and decor throughout and I love it. I like that they keep it contemporary and yet still maybe it feel nostalgic. This is just a really great movie to have on on the background during the Halloween season and you don't have worry about flipping the channel due to gore nor graphic violence no matter who comes trick or treating.

Classic. Original. Vintage. Retro. And still the all time ultimate Halloweeniest of all time champion. Nothing else compares. Every time any other movie comes out on the Halloween genre it is immediately held against Halloween as THE standard. The original movie was made with such a low budget, in such a short time, in Southern California, with mostly new/young actors, and it still holds up and holds itself out and apart from anything before or since. The text in this review will not allow me to include a pumpkin emoji, so just imagine you see it. The movie is absolute Halloween perfection, and it pains me that given the winning Halloween formula no one has been able to match it or surpass it. Not even the Halloween franchise itself. They can't even recreate the magic of their original offering. Not even close in fact. Every time I watch any of the other Halloween franchise movies, in immediately reminded of how great the original is and how lacking everything else is. In fact I will posit that stemming from the original the Halloween franchise movies have gotten progressively worse. Ranked in order they go: 1) Halloween 2) Halloween 2 (since it's merely a continuation of the first) 3) Halloween 3 Season of the Witch (which is a great stand alone movie in it's own right, and I wish the franchise would've capitalized on this by continuing in that direction by making independent stand alone Halloween movies in the series eventually and gradually reintroducing Micheal Meyers in various scenarios and teasing his character existence throughout). 4) Halloween 4. 5) The Rob Zombie Halloween "reimaginings" which are a couple of 'ok' renditions, but didn't really hold up well over time. 6) Everything else in the Halloween franchise is absolute crap that denigrated the original name and only serves to remind people of the purity of the original Halloween movie. One of the worst offenders is the 2018 self-titled 'Halloween' movie. It portends by it's nomenclature to be a juxtaposition of the original. It is not. It is crap. But I'll save that venom for my review of Halloween (2018). Every time I rewatch the original Halloween (1978) movie, I am reassured that it remains balls to the wall the best Halloween movie ever made and of all time. Pumpkin emoji, exclamation point.