As I am writing this post, Sof’ is preparing tonight’s pumpkin pasta dinner and we’re watching Frankenweenie on Disney+.

This is just another Halloween, yet it feels very different from the other years, not because of the second Belgian confinement that was announced yesterday (let’s face it, nerds are confined by nature), but because we didn’t take any days off for the occasion since we’re saving them to enjoy an entire month for Christmas and the release of Shadowlands.

However, we’ll still be celebrating this evening with decorations, pumpkin pastas (Sof’s special recipe) and 3 horror movies: Scare Package, The Wretched and The Mortuary Collection.

This morning, I stumbled on a very fitting video for a Halloween in confinement:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=pwWFDaHDXVQ

So, enjoy the creepiest night of the year, even if you’re celebrating alone.

Since we’re trying to keep as many new movies (and there are so few at the moment) as we can for our Christmas holidays, we’ve been doing reruns of our classics.

Years ago, we only had good things to say about the first Descent movie… This time was different, it felt slow, almost like psychological drama. I felt asleep before the end.

The next week-end, we watched the second chapter and we had a much better time. Even if the blood looks like ketchup on a hot summer day, the action was uninterrupted by unnecessary drama scenes. Even the characters were less annoying than in the original movie.

Are our tastes changing with the years? Does that mean that I would enjoy Alien 2 over the original? Well, there’s only one way to find out. To be continued…

Another serie we love to rewatch every year during the hot summetimes. Paranormal Activity still remains, in my opinion, one of the most unsettling horror series ever made. No matter how many times I’ve watched these movies, they still make me feel ill at ease at night. Evil witches, and possession always do the trick for me.

One thing is for sure, I’ll never set up a camera in my place at night. Whatever happens at night, will stay in the night, like they say: “ignorance is bliss”. I prefer it that way.

Every time we’re watching Paranormal Activity, Sardoken and I can’t stop talking about how gorgeous the houses are in these movies (with exception of the Marked Ones). Even though, I prefer my normal little apartment over a haunted place anytime. I wanted to add some stills to this post, but they were too dark and didn’t do any justice so, instead I’m adding a picture of the the livingroom in The Ghost Dimension:

On the right you see a fraction of what is the biggest and most glorious Christmas tree I’ve ever seen in a house. It’s beginning September, and I’m already in full Christmas spirit… thank you Ghost Dimension.

The Charnel House Trilogy, developed by Owl Cave, is a point & click game with pixel graphics. As the title states the game is in 3 parts: Inhale, Sepulchre, and Exhale. The story is about a horrifying and fatal night aboard a train bound for Augur Peak. Even though the game is pretty short, the developers managed to create an eerie atmosphere that puts you at ill-ease in times.

My favourite scene is the one at the station, waiting for the train while snow’s falling on the abandoned tracks is so dreamy. Despite the current summer temperatures, Alex gave me the chills though. I mean, who goes out in the snow in just a T-shirt? I’d be wrapped up like an Eskimo!

Anyway, I’ve played this game a few years ago, and remembered how much I loved it at that time. Meanwhile, I’ve played so many other games that I’ve forgotten most of the story of The Charnel House Trilogy so, I planned to re-play it this weekend.

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Today, after a great walk at the park, a super delicious sandwich, and a damn fine cup of coffee, I installed myself at my desk, and booted this little gem. Two hours later, I had already finished the entire story. While it was very short, the adventure was worthwhile. The puzzles are a bit too easy, but it made the trip go smooth, and without any challenge. I can understand that some people may have an issue with that, but it didn’t really bother me that much. Props for the pixel graphics cause I’m a complete sucker for these. All in all, an absolute must for all adventure games fans.

One, two, Freddy’s coming for you.

Three, four, Better lock your door

Five, six, grab a crucifix.

Seven, eight, Gonna stay up late.

Nine, ten, Never sleep again…

Chris and I are huge horror fans, and since psychological dramas are taking over our beloved genre, we’ve decided to re-watch the good old classics for now. Nothing beats a slasher movie on Saturday night so, we’ve decided to start our re-run galore with “A Nightmare on Elm Street” series.

Yesterday evening we’ve watched the first one, released in 1984. Now that’s what I call real horror. How I’ve missed the simple plots of a slasher movie! No intricate dialogues, no psychological BS, and no violins… Just the simple life of teens, trying to outwit a creepy killer on cool 80’s tunes. The perfect recipe for a Saturday horror night.

While reading some trivia of “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, I’ve learned that the movie is actually inspired by real-life events. Apparently, Wes Craven decided to make this movie after reading some L.A. Times articles about a group of teenage immigrants who, after moving to the U.S., died in their sleep after suffering from disturbing nightmares.

Interesting… A great concept, perfectly translated. The last time that I had watched a NOES is so long ago that I barely remember any of it. I’m glad we decided to do some re-runs for now, I have the feeling that I’m watching most movies for the first time again. The perks of getting older… hehe…

Anyway, A Nightmare On Elm Street is, in my opinion, along with Halloween and Friday the 13th, one of the best slasher movies ever made.

In the summer of ’94, I started hanging out with some school mates that apparently were into roleplaying. One day, a bunch of us had planned to hang out in the attic room of my best friends’ old house, where they surprised me with a campaign of Call of Cthulhu. I had never heard about H.P. Lovecraft and his universe before, but since that day I’m a huge fan.

When the movie “Color out of Space” came out, Chris and I wanted to keep it for a special occasion. This Easter holiday, I thought it would be a great idea to make it a Cthulhu inspired day.

We first opened a good bottle of wine and enjoyed the beautiful weather on our balcony. It was a great moment, and Chris even got a little sunburn.

After that we crashed in the couch, and started watching “Color out of Space”. To be honest, I had no idea what to expect of the movie, I was too afraid to watch the trailer and get disappointed. Never have I been this wrong, the movie was stunning! It was so great, I don’t even know where to begin. The direction and cinematography were meticulous, alongside with a screenplay written as it should be in honour of the work of Lovecraft.

The casting was perfect, no one can portray a man taken over by insanity like Nicolas Cage does. The man is craziness incarnate, just too bad for his overacting which grows tiresome at times. Also, props for the witchy elements which they made look darker than I initially expected. I actually love all about this movie, it was surreal, disturbing, visually pleasing, and the horrific creatures were beyond grotesque.

All I can say at this point is that I can’t wait to watch this movie again. A perfect tribute to H.P. Lovecraft. Just one question though: what’s up with the alpacas? I know they’re funny, but of all animals, alpacas?

To finish the day in beauty, we watched the H.P Lovecraft documentary “Fear of the Unknown” during the dinnertime. It’s a 1 hour and 29 minutes documentary on Youtube where writer Neil Gaiman, filmmaker John Carpenter and others discuss the life and legacy of Lovecraft. When I saw the time stamp of 2007, I was baffled that it took me 13 years before even hearing about this documentary. Nevertheless, it was highly interesting, and perfect to end this Lovecraftian Easter.

During the movie, Crystal (Betty Gilpin) tells Don the story of the turtle and the rabbit, but, in her version, the loser rabbit kills the turtle and his family in their home and eats their food, proud of his revenge. Isn’t it exactly what Crystal does in the movie?

I’ll be honest, I didn’t enjoy The Hunt much, until Betty Gilpin appears and saves the entire movie. She’s atypical and badass and she manages to get my sympathy enough to make me wanna see her survive.

I already liked her in Elementary and I hope to see her again in other movies.

Movies like this are the reason why I keep blogging about horror flicks, while they are entertaining, I don’t really wanna watch them twice. I was convinced that I hadn’t seen this one, until half-way through…

The plot is simple: people invade houses and broadcast murders on internet.

Instead of focusing on making the invasion terrifying, Keep Watching is constantly interrupted by slow scenes, like family drama. It doesn’t only break the rhythm, it also removes a lot of the terror.

The movie isn’t bad, it even lets itself watch, like any average horror b-movie.

If I had access to a suit that makes me invisible, the last thing that would come to my mind would be to ruin the life of an ex-wife.

I haven’t seen the original movie, but it was probably better. This one would never inspire a remake.

It isn’t bad but it isn’t good either. You watch it, you go to bed and you forget it. It was actually pretty hard to write something about it and I’m glad it is done.

A rookie cop has to spend her very first shift guarding an abandoned precinct during the last night before it gets decommissioned… And guess what: it is haunted!

While the pitch isn’t really surprising, the movie manages to build a tension right from the start. You can’t help yourself but to think that you would get the hell out of there or, at least, wait the morning in your car.

Unfortunately, during the second half of the movie, the scenario becomes too heavy. They shouldn’t have tried so hard to explained what was behind the haunting as to keep the tension going.

It isn’t a bad movie, and it has enough creepy moments to keep you awake, but it could have been much better if they would have kept the momentum of the first 40 minutes going.