October 27th
Tales of Halloween (2015)
Ten stories are woven together by their shared theme of Halloween night in an American suburb, where ghouls, imps, aliens and axe murderers appear for one night only to terrorize unsuspecting residents.
It's impossible not to compare Tales of Halloween to Trick r Treat (2007). However whilst that film works a treat (ahem) the same cannot be said for Tales of Halloween.
After a terrific opening half hour with the short stories hitting you thick and fast it suddenly became a bit of a chore to sit through. Visually it's excellent with so many references to horror down the years you just don't have chance to take it all in as one year after my first viewing, ten stories in a mere 90 minutes is too much and it feels unfocused after around the forty minute mark.
Where Trick r' Treat really shone through for me is the loving way all the stories interconnect with each other and you notice scenes from one story taking place whilst watching another. There's nothing like this here Some of the ideas used did seem to come from other films such as Jeff Lieberman's Satan's Little Helper (2004), but it was lovely to hear and briefly see Adrienne Barbeau reprise her role of a late night witching hour DJ throughout the film.
Some of the stories amuse, some repulse, a couple i felt didn't work at all. Mostly though Tales of Halloween is merely average and i think i'll be giving it a miss next year.
Blair Witch (2016)
Now if only Adam Wingard's Blair Witch were merely average it would be seen as something of a triumph. As it is this is a poor retread of the original 1999 film where three students disappear in the Burkittsville woods, only this time there are six of them which means more hysterical shouting - i was at near screaming point myself the number of times one girl cried 'Ashley' every two seconds once things became creepy.
Wingard basically failed to take in what made the first film a success - things that go bump in the night - bigger is not always better, Adam - and despite a lot more time frantically running round the supposed witch house, (which now appears the size of a blooming mansion) the film basically annoyed the shit out of me, especially as it ends exactly the same as The Blair Witch Project did.
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