ThomasBleedPHD

Ghostwatch, Without Warning, WNUF and its sequel. These are all found footage horror films done in the style of television broadcasts gone horribly wrong. Late Night with the Devil is another entry in this Found Footage subgenre, but with a bigger budget and higher production values. On the one hand, this can take you a bit out of the movie -- after all, how can a broadcast this old look so good? -- on the other hand, it feels like a nitpick more than anything, because the overall style and presentation is fantastic.

A struggling late night host with a mysterious past and possible connections to a strange secret order interviews an allegedly possessed girl, and strange things start happening on set.

I really, really enjoyed this film. A creepy and thrilling supernatural mystery done in a very unique and underutilized format. It's also partially a mockumentary (a framing device for the footage) -- there's also some references to real life conspiracies and mysticism which IMO make the movie feel more deep and high brow, as silly as that might sound.

I just think it's neat. Definitely give this a watch, and here's hoping we see more movies in the "fake television broadcast" subgenre in the future!

This installment of the Found Footage anthology franchise has some great ideas, but it's ultimately brought down by bad choices. Gonna be hard to talk about this one without spoilers but I want this review to be as accessible as possible.

One thing I can tell you about this movie that isn't a specific spoiler: there is a LOT of depictions of children getting injured or killed. If that's a deal breaker for you, you won't enjoy this at all. Some segments teeter right on the line but most of them cross it. It's actually my least favorite part about the movie and something bad creepypastas tend to do for shock value, but it just ends up making the whole things feel tasteless and pointlessly edgy, while also being kind of depressing. Definitely spoiled a lot of the fun for me.

For the wraparound segment and the "Fun Size" sketch, this stuff happens mostly offscreen (though its more explicit in the Wraparound) but most of the other sketches show it directly in some form or another. Also, there's a LOT of screaming and quite a bit of people crying, which also kind of spoils thing. I understand that's part of horror but there's a delicate balance you have to strike where it's just enough to keep things believable without feeling obnoxious or like "torture porn" and IMO sometimes the sketches fall into the latter category.

A lot of V/H/S entries usually share a common theme, which I appreciate. In this one it seems to be "youth, subversion of innocence, growing up, regression" etc. Unfortunately, that concept opened the gateway for child death/violence and again, for me that was more gross and sad than scary or fun.

I kind of wish the sketches were separated somehow because I think they all have their own individual strengths and weaknesses and some are better, while others are boring or frustrating. I'll be reviewing each separately.

"Diet Phantasm" - The wraparound segment. Very over-the-top with some downright cartoony elements of heightened reality. The premise is centered around an evil corporation performing a highly unethical research study around a soda that has dangerous side effects. It almost feels more like a comedy than a horror. Like I said early, something bad happens to a kid but mostly offscreen, you only see the blood. It ends in a pretty satisfying way but, as a wraparound, the plot is drip-fed to you in pieces throughout the film as it cuts away to other things. Not too bad, but nothing too great either. It's okay. - 7/10

"Coochie Coochie Coo" - Two teenage girls go around spoiling Halloween for younger kids and adults by stealing candy, but end up in a house of horrors stalked by a mysterious figure known as "The Mommy." This segment is probably the least outright gorery, which is something I appreciate. Mostly this sketch relies on disturbing, subtle body horror and mutation. It's also okay, suffeciently disturbing and exploring a disheveled, spooky house is a great premise for something like that. I'll also give it a 7/10.

Ut Supra Sic Infra (As Above, So Below) - This one is unique in that it's entirely in Spanish. It's a slow burn police procedural and also arguably the tamest one. It's the least offensive but also the least exciting, though there's still gore and some interesting stuff with the set pieces. Police investigate a massacre at a Halloween party where the only survivor is an alledged medium. It might just be because I don't speak Spanish, but this was the least engaging one for me. I'll give it a 5/10.

"Fun Size" - I'm a huge fan of Casper Kelly. I have been since I was a kid. He's done some awesome stuff for Cartoon Network, from kids entertainment to adult-oriented horror. "The Fireplace" and its sequel are genuinely great comedy horror films. This feels a lot like those (even having a similar subplot to the first one) but even raunchier, with no censorship. There's some really messed up stuff in this one, but it's done in a very purposefully abusrd way. It's... a little stupid, and intentionally so. The villain, Fun Size, is disturbing and really cool, and I genuinely like his gimmick of being a weirdo horror clown. I have mixed feelings about this one. Part of me loves it, but the other part of me thought it was too stupid and grossout. I'll be generous and give it an 8/10.

"Kidprint" - This one went too far. I say that as a horror fan. If violence against children is a dealbreaker for you, this will completely kill your mood. It shows child torture and mutilation in explicit detail and for me, it's way too much. The plot is about a child murderer and a video recording service in the 90s. It's too friggin' much. It isn't even all that scary, because despite being the most grounded in reality of all the sketches it's still absurd. It certainly does a good job at feeling cruel, depressing and frustrating, but I wouldn't exactly call it "scary." This is the exact point where horror stops being fun for me. 1/10

"Home Haunt" - This is the final segment, and it's probably the best one. A dad who opens elaborate haunted houses every year is having issues connecting with his cynical teenage son, and their wife tries to be the mediator. He's determined to make this year the scariest of all, and unknowingly brings in a supernatural twist. I won't spoil the rest, but it's probably the most supernatural of all the segments. I quite liked this one, though I think I would've enjoyed it more if Kidprint hadn't punched me in the gut and left me in a bad mood. The gore here feels like just the right amount. There's technically child violence but it's portrayed so ridiculously that it's hard me for me personally to get upset. I'm gonna give it 8/10.

Overall, V/H/S/Halloween has a couple great concepts and ideas, but even the best sketches are bogged down with some questionable choices, and the worst ones are either aggressively boring, or upsetting in a way that isn't fun or enjoyable. I mentioned bad creepypastas earlier, which rely too much on gore and the shock value of harming children to try to be scary and end up feeling cheap, and these are problems that translate over to this movie as well.

If you're looking for something fun to watch for Halloween, maybe check this out if you think you can stomach it, but it goes a little too hard in some places for my taste, and it gets so absurd at points that it feels downright dumb at times. If you want my advice, watch it but skip over Kidprint entirely.

This installment of the Found Footage anthology franchise has some great ideas, but it's ultimately brought down by bad choices. Gonna be hard to talk about this one without spoilers but I want this review to be as accessible as possible.

One thing I can tell you about this movie that isn't a specific spoiler: there is a LOT of depictions of children getting injured or killed. If that's a deal breaker for you, you won't enjoy this at all. Some segments teeter right on the line but most of them cross it. It's actually my least favorite part about the movie and something bad creepypastas tend to do for shock value, but it just ends up making the whole things feel tasteless and pointlessly edgy, while also being kind of depressing. Definitely spoiled a lot of the fun for me.

For the wraparound segment and the "Fun Size" sketch, this stuff happens mostly offscreen (though its more explicit in the Wraparound) but most of the other sketches show it directly in some form or another. Also, there's a LOT of screaming and quite a bit of people crying, which also kind of spoils thing. I understand that's part of horror but there's a delicate balance you have to strike where it's just enough to keep things believable without feeling obnoxious or like "torture porn" and IMO sometimes the sketches fall into the latter category.

A lot of V/H/S entries usually share a common theme, which I appreciate. In this one it seems to be "youth, subversion of innocence, growing up, regression" etc. Unfortunately, that concept opened the gateway for child death/violence and again, for me that was more gross and sad than scary or fun.

I kind of wish the sketches were separated somehow because I think they all have their own individual strengths and weaknesses and some are better, while others are boring or frustrating. I will say "Kidprint" was, in my opinion, the worst one, and leaned way too heavily on pointless child death and torture to the point where it wasn't funy anymore and just felt tasteless and depressing rather than scary.

Overall, V/H/S/Halloween has a couple great concepts and ideas, but even the best sketches are bogged down with some questionable choices, and the worst ones are either aggressively boring, or upsetting in a way that isn't fun or enjoyable. I mentioned bad creepypastas earlier, which rely too much on gore and the shock value of harming children to try to be scary and end up feeling cheap, and these are problems that translate over to this movie as well.

If you're looking for something fun to watch for Halloween, maybe check this out if you think you can stomach it, but it goes a little too hard in some places for my taste, and it gets so absurd at points that it feels downright dumb at times. If you want my advice, watch it but skip over Kidprint entirely.

Two fun sketches, Three "okay" ones, and one terrible one. Watch at your own risk.

Have you ever wondered what an Asylum Films version of Slenderman would look like? Why? Why did you will this into reality by thinking about it? Ugh, whatever.

There have been a couple of Slenderman movies over the past couple of years, and pretty much all of them are bad. I can't speak to the quality of the HBO documentary, but I don't necessarily count that one anyway.

Although Slenderman is a beloved part of internet folklore, he's a copyrighted character. Somebody owns him and has exclusive rights to use the character. That means if you don't have his permission to make a Slenderman movie, you won't make a Slenderman movie. Unless of course, you avoid ever using the character's actual name or likeness, play with him just enough to make him recognizable but never actually show him, and just call him a "Slender Being" instead of his actual name.

That's how this movie came to be. A zero-budget, zero-talent, zero- originality schlockfest that rips off the notability and likeness of Slenderman but stops just short of anything that can get them sued, this is a Z-movie bootleg.

Even if you can forgive the movie for being a tasteless ripoff (I can forgive "Due Date" for being a blatant ripoff of "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" because it's entertaining) you'll find yourself being slowly tortured by the bad editing, endless filler, scenes that never pay off, scenes that have nothing to do with the rest of the movie, scenes of people yammering about nothing, and massive flaws that go directly against the most basic rules of filmmaking. This movie is a disaster, like bad poetry in motion.

If I held this movie to normal standards, I'd have to call it one of the worst films ever made. However, I can't even count this as a real film. Generally, "indie" films are excluded from my list of the very worst (because there's so, so many bad ones) unless they can hit that sweet spot where they're coherent enough to count as a real movie, but bad enough to be garbage.

This is not coherent enough to be a "real" film. This movie is a mess. This is a bootleg Slenderman film, and it isn't even a good bootleg. Avoid it like you'd avoid the real Slenderman.