SCARY FLICKS III WITH STAR ANNA
Updated: Nov 1, 2022
Scary Flicks With Billy Disaster #1
Last night’s movie was I Saw the Devil starring Lee Byung-hun and Choi Min-sik. Directed by Kim Jee-Woon.
I’ve found myself jumping at any horror flick from South Korea considering how awesome Parasite, The Handmaiden and Train to Busan were. I Saw the Devil was pretty good, but not on the level as the three I just mentioned.
The best thing about this one is the antagonist played by Choi Min-sik. This character is a realistic psychopath who loves the art of the kill. He is a hard edged, blue collar kind of guy who reminded me of a Korean Charles Bronson. The other best thing about this movie is the chicks! Wow! I’m here to tell ya, if you saw this flick you would understand what I mean.
The story is basically about Byung-hun’s SMOKIN HOT wife getting disturbingly murdered by Min-sik. Byung-hun (who is a handsome cop) decides to get revenge in a number of horrific ways. I honestly looked away from the screen a couple of times.
I didn’t hate this film, I just had a few problems with it. First off, The vengeful husband catches and tortures the bad guy and then lets him go a number of times, leaving him to rape and kill again. Not very good cop work. Also, the cheap fast edit action sequences piss me off. God I hate that.
I guess I was just a little disappointed in this because the bar has been set so high for these South Korean horror flicks. 3 Skulls for I Saw the Devil 💀💀💀. I’m not giving up on
SK..tonight’s movie will be The Wailing. ❤️You Billydisaster.com
Scary Flicks With Star Anna #2
Kicking it off with one I almost watched last October and I’m glad I finally watched it!
Bingo Hell (2021)
Directed by Gigi Saul Guerrero, this movie takes place in the Barrio of Oak Springs and centers around a group of old folks, lifelong residence and close friends. Lupita (Adriana Barraza), a stubborn and badass elderly hispanic woman has been fighting to keep the neighborhood from becoming gentrified and the final straw is when some stranger in an expensive car buys the local bingo hall. After opening night, nefarious and unnatural things began to occur and Lupita is not gonna stand for it!
Damn, this movie was fun. First of all, I love that the hero is an older hispanic woman, she’s a badass with depth, heart, humor and strength. And Richard Brake is perfectly creepy as hell as Mr. Big, the new owner of the bingo hall. Spooky spooky! The use of color and lighting was done so well, like flickering neon glowing from the next room or a sickening, flickering green grit splashed over everything. And don’t worry, gore fans, as much heart as this movie has, it’s equally matched with moments not for the squeamish (i.e. me apparently, I had to look away a few times). Plus, the soundtrack is a dang delight, mixing some old Las Vegas casino vibes with excellent covers of House of the Rising Sun and Satisfied Mind. This movie delivers in all of the departments for me. The takeaway is “love and family good. Money and greed is root of all evil” and “you’re never too old to beat the shit out of a demon.”
5 out of 5 scary demon faces 👹👹👹👹👹
Check out more reviews, like the ones from last October at www.billydisaster.com
Scary Flicks With Star Anna #3
Deathgasm (2015)
Teenage outcast metalhead, Brodie, is sent to live with his Jesus-loving aunt and uncle and his shithead jock cousin in Auckland, New Zealand after his meth addicted mom is sent to prison. He doesn’t fit in but manages to befriend Zakk, a slacker, metalhead, doofus and along with two other D&D playing nerds, Dion and Giles, they form a metal band, Deathgasm. Zakk tricks Brodie into accompanying him on a break in, which turns out to be the decrepit home of Rikki Daggers, infamous and reclusive heavy metal star. They manage to get out with what they think is one of his albums, but turns out to be sheet music containing The Black Hymn. When Deathgasm performs the piece, it unleashes a shit storm of evil, possessing the townsfolk with blood thirsty, kill crazy demons. It’s up to Brodie, his bandmates and his crush, Medina to stop the oncoming apocalypse. Bloody mayhem ensues. It was a dash of Detroit Rock City with a sprinkling of Shaun of the Dead and a heaping spoonful of Evil Dead. Great use of chainsaw action and some other, I’ll just say, pretty creative weapons of choice. At one point I decided that the lead looked like a young George Harrison and couldn’t unsee it, so if you’ve ever wondered what a young George Harrison would look like slaying a shit load of zombie demons, then this movie might be for you! Overall, it was a fun watch, some absurd laugh out loud funny moments, and a lot of campy over the top gore. Maybe lacking in some of the plot and a little underdeveloped too, but not so much that you can’t enjoy it for what it is. It’s basically that age old story of a young outcast who moves to a new town, has a crush on the hottest girl in school who also happens to be dating his cousin, who is a total turd bully, so in a misguided attempt at obtaining ultimate power and fortune, he instead brings on a hellfire of demons that are bent on destroying mankind and is forced to save the world. I think it’s called the hero’s journey or something.
👹👹👹👹1/2 out of 5 scary demon faces
Check out all the reviews at www.billydisaster.com
Scary Flicks With Billy Disaster #4
Last night’s movie was The Wailing starring Kwak Do-won and Hwan-hee Kim. Directed by Na Hong-jin
This movie deservedly won a shitload of awards at the Asian Film Awards and ASCAA including Best Director, Best Film, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography and Best Score among others. It certainly deserved those awards but it should also have won Longest Horror Flick In Korean History.
The 1st hour and change takes us in to a small Korean village where a dim witted local police officer/family man, Jong-Goo, is investigating some violent and abnormal occurrences happening around town. It seems some of these events are being caused by a weird disease and gets all too real when it hits home where it appears that his adorable and cheerful little girl has been infected.
Drawing inspiration from anything from The Exorcist to Apocalypse Now, this was a jam packed flick that successfully combined humor, horror, and emotional depth with psychological wizardry and visual artistry. But unfortunately, it severely lacked the suspense that it was trying so hard to achieve. In a movie that was this long at 156 minutes, it seemed that it could have been far more suspenseful than it was considering the premise. I truly felt let down in this department as the story just compounded on itself over and over again.
Ultimately, this flick felt like a super complicated prog rock song done by masterful musicians, but left the lyric writing to their singer’s little brother to make him feel cool. 3 Skulls for The
Wailing 💀💀💀. Tonight’s movie will be The Visit. ❤️You. Billydisaster.com
Scary Flicks With Billy Disaster #3
Last night’s movie was The Visit starring Deanna Dunagan and Peter McRobbie. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan.
So this one was done by the same dude that did The Sixth Sense and while it’s not quite as popular, it’s almost as good. We might be talking apples and oranges with the two, but the quality is there.
Here’s the set up...A mom (Kathryn Hahn) is divorced and estranged from her parents. She has a super creative 15 year old daughter named Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and an equally creative 13 year old son named Tyler (Ed Oxenbould). The mom hasn’t seen or spoken to her parents in 15 years, but has her kids get on a train to meet them and stay with them for 5 days while she goes on a vacation with her boyfriend.
The good natured Becca and Tyler decide to bring camcorders to make a documentary of the experience of their stay with “Nana and Pop Pop”(Dunagan and McRobbie).
It doesn’t take long for the kids to discover that shit ain't right with Nana and Pop Pop.
I’m not gonna spoil anything, but I will say that a scary old lady might be one of the most frightening characters in these kinds flicks. To me, the most effective element is the dynamic the trusting kids have with their grandmother. It creates some intensely terrifying moments that are unsettling without being gory. There are also plenty of perfectly timed jump scares (which
so many people consider cheap, but I them).
There are a couple of disgusting things in this that were kind of unnecessary that I wished I’d never seen, docking it a few points. 4 Skulls for The Visit 💀💀💀💀 . Tonight’s movie will be
Pulse. ❤️You Billydisaster.com
Scary Flicks With Star Anna #4
The Convent (2000)
The poster for this movie pulled me in. The trailer sealed the deal. The IMDB synopsis reads “A group of college students break into an abandoned convent and become possessed by demonic spirits.” Simple enough. A lot of horror movies from the late 90s to early 2000s have a real fast paced, twitchy editing set to the soundtrack of Prodigy-esque frantic rave music and this was no exception. The characters are vapid, barely developed shells of stereotypical party kids, vessels for demonic possessions. You’ve got your bargain bin Fairuza Balk, the manic pixie goth girl full of sassy quips, lobbed at the “cool” kids she’s hitched a ride with to THE CONVENT. This includes her former goth turned popular roommate; a dumb and rude cheerleader (who’s bloody fate is probably my favorite); her dumb and also rude frat boyfriend; his two moronic frat buddies, (one of which must’ve just watched Swingers for the first time and decided to emulate Vince Vaughn); and former goth roommate’s nerdy ass brother, a pledge of said frat boys. What follows are all of the worst Y2K era tropes and offensive jokes- abusive hazing, a gross sexual assault attempt played off as humorous, horny dudes dismissing their frightened partners, etc. What this film does offer though are some of the funniest, cheesiest, low budget head smashing, blood squirting, skin peeling effects. Plus Coolio (RIP) as an unhinged, unqualified cop just ready to bust a cap in these idiot kids for trespassing. But the real star of the show is a Boston Terrier named Boozer. If you’ve seen the original Creep Show, you’ll recognize Adrienne Barbeau, who played the ball busting wife in the segment The Crate. And any fans of Rupauls Drag Race will be delighted to see season 6 alumni Kelly Mantle as servant to a bumbling satanic worshipper. All in all, this movie is hilariously bad and also just bad. Worth watching and probably worth owning on VHS.
3 out of 5 scary demon faces for this barely even B-grade crapsterpiece 👹👹👹
Read all the reviews at www.billydisaster.com
Scary Flicks With Star Anna #5
Happy Death Day (2017) (Hotel TV Addition)
Today I watched Happy Death Day on cable television at a hotel, commercials and all. I’m guessing certain gore was removed on account of it being on the tv. I probably missed the first 15 minutes of the movie but I don’t think it mattered in the grand scheme of understanding the plot, which was all over the place. Our protagonist is Theresa "Tree" Gelbman, a college student who wakes up on her birthday in the bed of a guy named Carter, goes about her day and then is murdered on her way to a party by a figure in a dumb baby mask. She immediately wakes up in Carters bed and quickly realizes she is reliving her birthday day again. This continues for most of the movie. She wakes up, she gets murdered by baby face, wakes up, gets murdered, wakes up, murdered, ad nauseam. With each new/same day she slowly begins to put the pieces together to solve why this keeps happening. It takes all kinds of pointless twists and turns, has many Aha! moments that don’t actually make sense and each time you think it’s over, it’s not, no matter how badly you wish it was. I don’t think watching this movie in full without censoring or commercials would’ve made it better. It was bad and somehow there are sequels. The only good scene was when the lead gal, knowing everything would reset in the morning and no one would remember anything anyways, rips the biggest farts in the diner while sitting across from Carter. That was it. A fart joke. Which is fitting because this movie stinks.
1 out of 5 scary demon faces 👹
Check out more reviews from me AND Billy Disaster at www.billydisaster.com
Scary Flicks With Billy Disaster #5
Last night’s movie was Pulse (2006) starring Kristen Bell and Ian Somerhalder. Directed by Jim Nonzero.
What in the actual fuck was I thinking? I didn’t realize that this pile of shit was a Hollywood remake of a Kiyoshi Kurosawa flick called Kairo. Even if Kairo isn’t a good movie, (I don’t know..haven’t seen it)...I’d bet my house and family that it’s better than this truly embarrassing waste of time.
Remember when cell phones were still relatively new and everyone that had one acted SOOO COOL when they were using theirs? Even though this asshole of a flick was made in 2006, it was like cell phones were brand new and all the rage. It was so annoying!
Another thing that annoyed the shit outta me...Kristen Bell and Ian Somerhalder were just too good looking. I kept thinking that I was watching a soap opera Halloween special. They were so sickeningly beautiful that I just wanted them to have bad things happen to them (murdered, disfigured, tortured...anything that a horror movie could do to them).
Maybe they did get what was coming to them, but I wouldn’t know because I turned this stupid movie off about halfway through and got up and left...my own house. 1 Skull for Pulse 💀 .
Tonight’s movie will Don’t Breathe. ❤️ You Billydisaster.com
Scary Flicks With Billy Disaster #6
Last night’s movie was Don’t Breathe starring Jane Levy and Stephen Lang. Directed by Fede Alvarez.
The raddest thing about this flick is that it pulls off one of my favorite character tricks of rooting for someone even though they are despicable. AND! They do it with more than one character...one on each side of the conflict. I loved that!
Set in a run down and basically abandoned neighborhood in Detroit. It’s like a 21st century ghost town. A trio of young but experienced small time burglars have learned about a life changing score. This group of 20 somethings consists of the street smart Rocky (Levy), her confident and hip boyfriend Money (Daniel Zovatto), and the geeky and reluctant Alex (Dylan Minnette).
They discover that there is an old, blind veteran living alone in a big house in the ghost town area. The old man had a daughter who was killed in a car accident and he’s sitting on $300,000 that he got from the settlement. Now, it’s a total asshole move to steal this money from the old man, but these kids come from a desperate position giving them a little leeway.
The action and suspense in this flick comes from the burglars underestimating the old, blind vet, and the old vet being cunning in a variety of ways to defend his home.
There is quite the twist toward the end that is not only shocking, but a clever and relevant addition to the overall story. This flick isn’t an important addition to the genre or anything, but
it’s a solid effort worth 4 Skulls 💀💀💀💀 . Tonight’s movie will be Raw. ❤️You Billydisaster.com
Scary Flicks With Billy Disaster #7
Last night’s movie was Raw (Netflix) starring Garance Marillier and Ella Rumpf. Written and Directed by Julia Ducournau.
Be careful with this flick. It can come across as an artsy coming of age story of awkward college age sisters, and it is, but it get’s fuuucked up! Really fucked up.
Justine (Marillier) and Alexia (Rumpf) are attending a veterinary school in a rural area of France. Justine is a hardcore vegetarian but during a hazing at school, she is forced to eat a duck liver and it wakes up an inner evil inside of her.
I want to tell you what happens SO BAD!! I would if this was a shitty flick, but it’s not, so I’ll resist the temptation. But I will say that as an artsy coming of age story, it’s pretty emotional and compelling. The sisters are like people we probably all have known at one time or another or could recognize in ourselves. Justine is a bit timid and shy, while Alexia is the more extroverted wild one.
The fact that this was made by a woman is evident as it has a strong feminine feel. Many of the scenes deal with things only women (and sisters) would relate to. It would almost qualify as part of our Chick Flicks With Billy Disaster series (next month). That being said, it is right at home in this Scary Flicks series. It really is a disturbing yet well made film that is easy to
recommend, but just be careful. 4 Skulls for Raw 💀💀💀💀. Tonight’s movie will be I Am
The Pretty Thing That Lives in the House. ❤️You Billydisaster.com
Scary Flicks With Billy Disaster #8
Last night’s movie was I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives in the House starring Ruth Wilson❤️ and Bob Balaban. Directed by Oz Perkins.
Have you ever watched the Showtime series “The Affair”? It’s a steamy show about a family man that has an affair (duh) with the SMOKIN HOT and talented Ruth Wilson. I was stoked to discover that she was in this flick and, holy shit did she deliver. Her performance in this one is totally different than The Affair. In this, she plays a far more classic, almost 1950’s style with a Disney-like innocence mixed with an emotional depth that plays perfectly in this ghost story.
Wilson plays a live-in hospice nurse named Lily who is tasked to take care of an elderly woman named Iris Blum, a retired novelist of horror books, in her New England mansion. Without giving too much away, I’ll say that this is a classic haunted house story with its own twist.
The real magic of this flick is the art that went into it. From the subtle insect tension of the sound design to the pacing of the editing of photography, this movie felt like a long and really good poem. The many levels of suspense are intertwined with slight comedy and stylish beauty.
But my favorite in this is Ruth Wilson. She shows that she is a real powerhouse actor who deserves more leading roles. She’s versatile and she has a sort of complex beauty that shines on the screen and conveys emotions that most actors cannot muster. 4 Skulls for I Am The
Pretty Thing That Lives in the House 💀💀💀💀. Tonight’s movie will be X.
❤️You
#moviereview #moviereviews #ruthwilson @ruthwilson_official
Scary Flicks With Billy Disaster #9. Last night’s movie was X starring Mia Goth and Mia Goth. Directed by Ti West.
You know how we’re sharing this Scary Flicks series with my homie Star Anna? Well, for THE FIRST TIME IN BILLY DISASTER HISTORY WE’RE REVIEWING THE SAME MOVIE! And we’re doing so without reading each other’s write-up beforehand.
It’s 1979 in Texas where a group of 6 young filmmakers set out on a Texan road trip destined for an old farm home that they basically Airbnb’d to make an adult film;). The patriarch of the group named RJ (Owen Campbell…who basically does a Matthew McConaughey impression), is determined to make a more high minded porn flick. The rest of the gang consists of 3 of his “actors” and 2 crew members.
Their Airbnb is owned and run by a really old and super creepy couple. The husband of the creepy couple is a dude named Howard who immediately lets it be known that he doesn’t like these kids and you know right away that he’s gonna be a problem. But not as much as his FUCKED UP wife named Pearl who must be 100 years old and is desperate to get laid, creating some horrific circumstances.
There are 3 different main elements in this that are worth mentioning. The 1st is the fluctuating styles that are used. There are long scenes that use broad cinematography with beautiful landscapes and music and no dialogue that lull you into a suspenseful coma and then WHAM! Next thing you know, the music becomes rockin’ and you’re in the middle of a porn shoot.
The 2nd is the music. There’s a song during a particularly gruesome scene called “Oui Oui Marie” that is so beautiful that I had to rewind and just listen again without watching. And then I was like…”Is that Chelsea Wolfe? One of my all time favorites?” Well…you bet your sweet ass it was. Turns out she collaborated with the amazing Tyler Bates to create the score. It’s awesome.
Finally, Mia Goth herself. The only other flick I’d scene her in was Lars von Trier’s “Nymphomaniac”. In this one she plays 2 characters, RJ’s girlfriend/porn actress, as well as Pearl, the creepy old lady. In both roles, she leads a terrific cast of actors who play a great range of great characters.
There’s one scene, we’ll call it the beautiful alligator scene, that makes this one of the best flicks in this series. 5 Skulls for X 💀💀💀💀💀. I can’t wait to see the prequel they made, “Pearl”. That’s it for this year’s Scary Flicks. Thank you so much to Star Anna for teaming up again this year! She’s the best! I hope you’ll join me for the next series, Chick Flicks III! ❤️You
Billydisaster.com
X (2022)
Set in 1979, a group of amateur pornography film makers/actors head to an isolated farmhouse with plans of making a low-budget adult film. The farmhouse is owned by a curmudgeony old man and his “very sick” wife, Pearl. The group is instructed by the old man, who seems none to pleased with “the likes of them”, not to interact with Pearl. Pearl secretly watches as the group films one of the adult scenes, and as a result, all kinds of grotesque mayhem ensues. Both the old woman Pearl and Maxine, the young adult film star are played by Mia Goth, who does a tremendous job. This film has shades of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and is a well executed (no pun intended) homage to the early slasher genre of the 70s and early 80s. You could also say it’s a bit of a love story, albeit a very twisted, bloody nightmare of love between two elderly psychopaths. It’s also a story about dreams and what it takes to achieve them, and that believing you’re special doesn’t mean everybody else believes it. But mostly it’s a sex driven gore fest with some cinematically beautiful shots intermixed with squeal-inducing kills.
5 out of 5 scary demon faces 👹👹👹👹👹
Check out more reviews at www.billydisaster.com
