Frightfest Diary: Day Three

Alright, so today wasn't as action packed as I was intending. Why? because I overslept. Look, a solid five days of horror movies takes a lot out of you and while the soul may be willing, the body requires nap time.

But that doesn't mean that there wasn't fun to be had.

HERETIKS

Nuns are super in right now, you guys. But we need something to tide us over until Corin Hardy's The Nun comes out, so this was the first in a double feature of "Nasty Nun" movies. A young woman accused of witchcraft is taken in by a group of nuns, but something horrible that was summoned at the priory years before is back and infecting the souls of the women there. There wasn't too much to this one, just some standard spooky goings on, but it was a lot any better than you might expect. Solid atmosphere, great make up, and most importantly Clare Higgins as the Mother Superior. If you don't know who Clare Higgins is, she played everyone's favourite queen of Hell Julia in Hellraiser 1&2 and is so much fun to watch.

Verdict: 3/5

THE DEVIL'S DOORWAY

This isn't just found footage, this is period piece found footage shot on 16mm and everything. Two priests go to a Magdelene laundry, very horrible and very real places where "fallen women" were used as slave labour by the Catholic church, to investigate a claim of a miracle and instead find something significantly less than divine. What makes this film from first time director Aislinn Clarke work so well is the blending of real life and supernatural evil to create something very unnerving. It does fall into a few of the found footage pitfalls, and also uses my personal pet peeve of using a music score, but really this is such a good story here that you don't mind. Lalor Roddy really knocks it out of the park as Doubting Father Thomas and Helena Bereen even manages to give the Mother Superior some shades of grey amidst the cruelty. Also the vintage aesthetic along with some clever sound tricks and a lack of fear of showing blank screen with audio playing over it really makes this stand out in the wealth of found footage films that are out there.

Verdict 4/5

UPGRADE

I have been waiting for this one for months. Great scifi concept, a paralysed man is given a computer chip that allows him to walk again and also get revenge on the people who killed his wife, but it's the execution from director Leigh Whannell that makes it pure adrenaline thrill fun. The visuals are slick with some intense and amazing choreography in the fight scenes that by all accounts leading man Logan Marshall-Green did himself. There's outrageous violence, there's little bits of worldbuilding that capture your attention, and there's absurd humour. It also features an appearance from the amazing Betty Gabriel from Get Out who needs to be in everything. I thought I had the plot called from the get go, but there was an extra surprise element that threw me off to a delightful degree. You walk out of this feeling like you could punch your way through a brick wall.

Verdict: 5/5

I also got a pic with Leigh after the movie, he was very nice.

Okay, now TOMORROW is gonna be the most full-on day, I mean it this time.

Happy watching.