Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark - #31DayHorrorChallenge - Day 2: In a Cornfield

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark - André Øvredal -  2019

★★★-I loved these books as a kid. Read them in third grade and every knock off I could get my hands on for the next several years before turning to Stephen King in sixth grade. Originally saw the film on opening day. It was minimally disappointing. So time for a rewatch. Fine, and likeable, but still slightly disappointing. Only slightly though.

Horror flick directed by Norwegian filmmaker André Øvredal who has some talent but is a bit inconsistent. He also did Trollhunter, The Autopsy of Jane, both of which were great, and most recently The Last Voyage of the Demeter, which was not. Based on the children's book series by Alvin Schwartz. The screenplay from the Hageman bros, Dan and Kevin, adapted from what the internet calls a "screen story" by Guillermo del Toro, the director, and Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan. 

Gist of it is a group of naive teens ignore rule numero uno and read from creepy books you find in abandoned houses, and things get real. Kids, don’t fuck with creepy books you find in known haunted mansions. The home belonged to the infamous Bellows family, the rich folk that poisoned the town's drinking water decades before with their industrial bullshit. When young Sarah grows a conscience and threatens to tell the au-thor-it-ays, they lock her away and learns some curse or something and finds a way to pen terrifying tales that come alive. After being long abandoned, the kids show up and start unlocking evil willy-nilly in the year of our lord 1968. 

Cast is what I was led to believe were rising stars. The main kids are Zoe Colletti (the lead), Michael Garza (the love interest, draft dodger), Gabriel Rush (the tall geeky one), Austin Zajur (the short geeky one), Natalie Ganzhorn (the sister that's agraid of spiders), and Austin Abrams (the bully). Crazy to think there was a time not so long ago that you were a fugitive if you didn’t go to war. As a nonreligious pacifist, this is the scariest part about the movie for me.  

Only person I really recognized was Dean Norris, who played Hank Schrader on Breaking Bad. He's the lead's dad. The main girl reminds me of my favorite intern at the newspaper. She had some talent as a writer and photographer but had similar barriers in her way. Ended up alright though, is a commercial photographer for Sketchers. Had the same look, but more goth.  

Still waiting on that sequel. Supposedly in development still. Got about one or two years, and then they are going to have to start over or make the characters much older or whatever. Pushing it now even.  

Usually not one to stick up for cops in movies, but this guy is a real professional. Head comes bouncing down the chimney, says some crazy shit, drops his shit, says “are you shitting me,” and shoots the head in the brain. Doesn’t do any good, but he’s got the right idea. Still not the scariest thing to happen that night though. Nixon got elected and so started the decline of liberal democracy in the United States. That’s the realest horror story you are ever gonna hear.  

Overall, the film is pretty good to alright. Excellent use of the song “Season of the Witch.” Liked that it stayed consistent with the art, though I wasn’t crazy about that the first time around.  Brutal deaths for a movie sort of marketed at young people. Puking up hay as you turn into a scarecrow looks pretty awful. One poor bastard has a reoccurring nightmare he is afraid the evil is going to use against him. She does. Then there is the brutal stuff between Stella and her dad. No abuse or anything, just pain and regret. Also pretty real.

Last Voyage of the Demeter - A real "Captain's Log"

The Last Voyage of the Demeter - André Øvredal - 2023

★★★-This is a movie adapted from the “The Captain's Log” chapter in Bram Stoker's 1897 Dracula novel. It follows the ill-fated crew of the merchant ship Demeter as they struggle to survive an ocean voyage from Transylvania to London as Dracula picks them off one by one. Basically Alien meets The Terror. 

It is a bummer of a movie, as you'd imagine if you know anything about this part of the book. If not, they'll tell you in the first minute of the film. 

The passage was a personal favorite part of the book and was rife with potential. I've always thought of the section as Dracula completely unhinged with no consequences. But in this film, they took it as also having no personality. Had a friend that said it was fun, and that was all I needed. However, pretty meh.

When I saw the trailer before Oppenheimer, I assumed it wasn't going to be great. The little they showed of Dracula looked bad. Looked like Golem in 2003 CGI. Plus, a late summer horror movie is almost always a bad sign. Studios either push it out with the blockbusters or during the Halloween season. 

Directed by André Øvredal, his sixth film (though I've never heard of his first, Future Murder, which doesn't appear to be available anywhere and doesn't have a Wikipedia page). I've seen the horror films at least—this includes Trollhunter, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Of those, this was my least favorite of his films.

Spent over 30 years in development hell. It was originally conceived back in 1992 on the back of the Francis Ford Coppola film Bram Stoker's Dracula starring Gary Oldman, Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, and Anthony Hopkins. However, the project languished in limbo until Amblin Partners acquired the rights in 2019.

Stars Corey Hawkins as Clemens, the ship's doctor. His treatments mostly consist of him pumping his own blood straight from his body into someone Dracula has fed on. While I personally may be no physician, I do know you can't just put any old blood into another person's body. A quick Google search says if a person is given the wrong blood type, depending on the types of bloods involved, the result is a major hemolytic transfusion reaction. What happens is, “the recipient’s immune system vigorously attracts the donated blood. The cells are ripped apart, tons of bad chemicals are released, and the person gets super sick. The kidneys can fail… first reddish urine then shutdown. The person can develop a severe flu like illness. They can go into shock and ultimately die. Mortality is high without treatment, and considerable even with it.” So, yeah, playing it fast and loose with that whole “do no harm” bit. Anyway, you might remember Hawkins from The Walking Dead, for his portrayal of Dr. Dre in Straight Outta Compton, or from the Spike Lee flick BlacKkKlansman. 

Also stars Game of Thrones alums Aisling Franciosi (she played Lyanna Stark) and Liam Cunningham as Captain Elliot (he was Davos Seaworth in GoT and has an insane amount of titles to his name). David Dastmalchian kind of steals the show as the first mate. He had a memorable role in The Dark Knight, was Kurt and Veb in the Ant-Man franchise, and played Polka-Dot Man in The Suicide Squad. He has worked with Denis Villeneuve as well, appearing in Prisoners, Blade Runner 2049, and Dune. Javier Botet, a go-to monster/creature actor, plays Dracula. 

It was serviceable, with really solid performances, a claustrophobic feel, and good practical effects. I am a sucker for ship movies, especially olde timey ones, on that front it worked. When it is a slow burn, I liked it. But it's unoriginal, adding little to the story, the CGI was not good, it was too long, the end was dumb, and overall forgettable. Plus, a dog and animals die... And also humans, obviously. If you are a big vampire/Dracula fan, you'll dig it. Otherwise, probably worth skipping.