Shocktober- Day 1 & 2

Finally it's the holiday which no one waits for, Halloween is on the 31st of this terrible month and I'm 3 days late to it. You know what this means- Horror films. Films which thrill, spill, dill (the herb) and jill you to the core (jill is a word), we all love them but no one really knows why. We all know the majority of them are bad, they're dirt cheap to make and as a result there's a whole back catalogue of thousands of whiffy releases, most of which are waiting for your viewing right at the bottom of Netflix's horror section where no one dares to visit. Case in point, take the 'Deadly Bees' (1967) which is situated right at the bottom of the stink pile (I literally just looked), which to be fair could be quite good- I've never seen it. Saying that I'm reading the synopsis as we speak and its pushing all my buttons- terrific.

There are however those hidden gems, ones which keep you squirming for a good 7 hours (no more and strictly no less), a small list which (personally) include:

- Rosemary's baby (1968)     - The Borderlands (2013)              - Let the right one in (2008)
- The Shining (1980)            - Carrie (1976)                               - Psycho (1960)
- The Thing (1982)               - Eden lake (2008)                         - 28 days later (2002)
- The Descent (2005)            - Alien (1979)                                - Slither (2006)
- Kill List (2011)                  - Night of the living dead (1968)   - The Wicker man (1973  2006)

So as Halloween approaches, I'm gunna do this thing some people (I don't know who) call Shocktober which involves watching a horror film every day of October. I'm gunna be watching films which I've never seen before, otherwise... yuknow. Some films will be super old, some super new, like for example the newly released Dolphin Tale 2 which frankly looks fucked up. So hopefully I can add some new horror films to my favourites.


#1- Silence of the Lambs- (1991)

I've been told to watch this for a fair while and so took this month as an opportunity to watch it and yeah it's about as good as everyone says it is!

This film is just as much about the thrilling story as it is about the construction of the two protagonists. I mean Hannibal Lecter is an infamous horror villain, so I knew he would be pretty gruesome in the film but man... Anthony Hopkins' performance as the fictional murderer is just dirty and genuinely gets under your skin- as he pierces into the mind of Jodie Fosters character you feel as though he's doing the exact same thing to you. One could question just why Mrs Starling, Jodie Fosters character, is quite as dumb as she is despite her being a 'top student', however the film does do a pretty good job in explaining this... I say pretty good because she is just straight up stupid at some points.

The mystery surrounding Lecter is great and contributes to the job of getting under your skin, depending on how you view him as a character however some of his actions are quite astounding, performing feats in the space of 5 minutes which would take bloody Kevin Mcloud a couple of weeks. Saying that however if you analyse this considered 'classic', such actions would fit in perfectly to the mysterious and devilish character of Lecter.

The Silence of the lambs is truly gripping, reeling the audience into its world of horrific crime and mystery. Putting the narrative puzzle together is both as tantalizing as it is unnerving, truly scared as to what Lecter could be holding up his sleeve.

8.5/10- Perhaps not a terrifying horror but certainly a gripping crime drama.


#2- The Purge: Anarchy- (2014)

Judging by this films predecessor, the purge 2 (Or anarchy if you're a dick) in theory should be a steaming pile of shit, but heads up sister- shit, it aint.

You see the Purge 2 does something really weird and frankly bizarre which Hollywood very rarely does, this film actually listened to the fans of the first film and gave us exactly what we wanted. The idea of the purge is a great one, for those who don't know- yahoo it or ask jeeves (if you rekon he'll know), although you could certainly argue that the concept is a little silly and unrealistic, it is none the less undoubtedly original and interesting, providing an interesting concept which attempts to act as a social commentary. The problem with the first film was that, with a concept which includes the whole of the USA, they trap themselves within the confines of one home and the story becomes redundant as it simply turns into a slasher flick. As I said, the purge 2 does exactly what the fans asked for, it branches out and shows us how the people of the US react to this controversial day. Quite understandably there is backlash from underground organisations who are trying to make this day obsolete, however at the same time, there are of course some crack heads who go out trying to do some illegal shite.

This alone makes the Purge 2 a whole lot better than its predecessor, branching out to show us a more complex and intellectual storyline. The story follows 3 sets of people who find themselves on the streets on purge night for different reasons, some purposefully, some accidentally and whilst not all these characters are hugely compelling, the protagonist played by the most recognisable actor in the film, Frank Grillo, is surprisingly very well fleshed out, so much so that this characters arc alone is enough to call the whole film a success.

As they travel through the streets to find safety we see these characters evade some truly well organised criminals with interesting philosophical views, my favourite of which came from a man who waved to 2 of the protagonists whilst wearing a mask reading 'God', a simple and pointless attempt at philosophical meaning which ultimately means nothing. As all these people are humans it would have been nice to see a more human side to each of the criminals we see on the streets.

The Purge 2 is a great surprise, boasting a very well constructed protagonist within a far more expanded world of quiet intelligence and fairly subtle social messages. If this, now franchise, treads lightly it could make to be a very interesting horror franchise.

6.5/10-  An ambitious and vast improvement on the pants preprocessor
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