The Godzilla cartoon tends to be why some fans are more accepting of Zilla as a version of Godzilla than others. A pity the movie's toy line failure meant we couldn't get the toys for the cartoon.
I kind of treat Zilla kind of the same way I treated Batman and Robin after the TDK trilogy in the sense that we later got a better American version of Godzilla so I accept the 1998 movie for what it is.
(Not saying I'm comparing the Monsterverse to the Nolan trilogy but you get the gist )
I wanted to wrap up the September portion of my Halloween marathon with something cozy and witchy — and what could be more appropriate than Kiki's Delivery Service? It's on the softer, low-stakes end of Hayao Miyazaki's work, and an absolute delight.
Kiki is a 13-year-old witch-in-training who travels to a large, quasi-European city to complete her studies. It's a tender coming-of-age story with a massive heart and a deep understanding of its complicated but lovable protagonist. Needless to say, the animation is breathtaking, and the score is just as enchanting.
Ok, so there are a lot of things that doesn't work this time around. It's easily the worst one. Both central characters are completely changed (Maria Bello's casting is the main culprit) with Brendan Fraser given nothing to do. The goofy scenes they share together early on are terrible. Teeeerrrible.
However, I do appreciate the effort of having a different mythology/iconography to change things up a bit. Visually is the most interesting aspect of this movie and there are a couple of good moments once the action kicks in and the third act has like a Pirates of the Caribbean vibe to it.
There's a good movie buried somewhere in there. No pun intended.
Ok, so there are a lot of things that doesn't work this time around. It's easily the worst one. Both central characters are completely changed (Maria Bello's casting is the main culprit) with Brendan Fraser given nothing to do. The goofy scenes they share together early on are terrible. Teeeerrrible.
However, I do appreciate the effort of having a different mythology/iconography to change things up a bit. Visually is the most interesting aspect of this movie and there are a couple of good moments once the action kicks in and the third act has like a Pirates of the Caribbean vibe to it.
There's a good movie buried somewhere in there. No pun intended.
Bite-Sized Review: And the two main characters went on to be very good roommates.
****
73. Muppets Haunted Mansion (2021) dir. Kirk Thatcher
Bite-Sized Review: The only Haunted Mansion adaptation you need. Unless GDT ever actually gets to make his.
****
74. Scare Me (2020) dir. Josh Ruben
Bite-Sized Review: Wild this is 5 years old. Such a perfect little film, that Cash and Ruben make feel ginormous. Someone give Ruben real money to do whatever he likes. And please, let him write it.
****1/2
75. Frankenstein (1931) dir. James Whale
Bite-Sized Review: MITS wasn't the only one enjoying the sacred text last night.
Bite-Sized Review: And the two main characters went on to be very good roommates.
****
73. Muppets Haunted Mansion (2021) dir. Kirk Thatcher
Bite-Sized Review: The only Haunted Mansion adaptation you need. Unless GDT ever actually gets to make his.
****
74. Scare Me (2020) dir. Josh Ruben
Bite-Sized Review: Wild this is 5 years old. Such a perfect little film, that Cash and Ruben make feel ginormous. Someone give Ruben real money to do whatever he likes. And please, let him write it.
****1/2
75. Frankenstein (1931) dir. James Whale
Bite-Sized Review: MITS wasn't the only one enjoying the sacred text last night.
Figured I would go all the way back to the very beginning just as I am beginning a Buffy rewatch. Definitely the seeds of Buffy greatness, but SMG's Buffy starts out much, much more likeable. Rutger Hauer is always a fun villain. Not quite sure what the minor character doing a Jim Carrey impression was doing though....
ngl, if they brought back Surge knowing that soda has an interdimensional Cthulhu monster inside it, I'd still drink it. This was pretty fun overall. It is more or less like last year's V/H/S Beyond, but the highs were a little higher. This one pretty much sticks to the Halloween theme pretty...
letterboxd.com
V/H/S/Halloween
ngl, if they brought back Surge knowing that soda has an interdimensional Cthulhu monster inside it, I'd still drink it.
This was pretty fun overall. It is more or less like last year's V/H/S Beyond, but the highs were a little higher. This one pretty much sticks to the Halloween theme pretty closely, even though a couple of them kinda overlap in the types of characters.
Diet Phantasma
This is the wrap-around segment by Bryan M. Ferguson where they do a research study/market taste trial of a soda that has something inside it and kills them. It's not bad, but not great, and it has the same feeling as the wrap-around segment in V/H/S/85. Funny enough, I liked the end credits part where they show the commercial more than most of the scenes and the kills. Overall, decent.
3/5
Coochie Coochie Coo
This segment by Anna Zlokovic was pretty good. It feels like a successor of the Storks segment from last year and the movie Barbarian. It moves really fast, and while I was kinda expecting more, the scares are decent enough, and the creep factor is really well done. It's also got some interesting effects design that is subtle enough to make it feel very off-putting. Overall, a really fun start.
3.5/5
Ut Supra Sic Infra
This one is the one that I had high hopes for going in, knowing it's by Paco Plaza, who made the REC movies and Veronica, and it's the one that disappointed me the most... only because it felt unfinished to me and probably felt the shortest of the segments. Still enjoyed the story for what it is, and the setup is pretty good about a survivor helping the police figure out the crime scene and how it flips back and forth between the interrogation and the video evidence of what happened. Overall, not bad, but I wish it were way better.
3/5
Fun Size
Maybe one of the most silly VHS segments out there by Casper Kelly, who is known for making Adult Swim shows and most notably the most insane short film "Too Many Cooks". This was incredibly silly, and the acting is so purposefully awful that it makes sense within the context. I do think the villain has a Sam from Trick' r Treat vibe, but if it were done as an Adult Swim character, I wouldn't be surprised if they brought him back for something else. The effects and the kills were creative and goofy enough to make it interesting. Overall, annoying at times but not bad.
3/5
Kidprint
Easily the best segment of the bunch by Alex Ross Perry, and it's easily one of the most disturbing and upsetting V/H/S segments they've ever done in this series. It follows a video store owner and his service of recording kids so they can give it to the police to ID them if they've gone missing. They do a good job keeping a very eerie vibe, and the performances were pretty good across the board. It oddly reminded me of the first 30 minutes of The Blair Witch Project in how it was set up, and a little bit of The Black Phone. It's a tough watch when it gets pretty serious, and where it leads is all disturbing in an unconventional way. Overall, one of the best and meanest V/H/S segments out there.
4/5
Home Haunt
The last and final segment by Micheline Pitt-Norman & R.H. Norman was pretty good, which has some depth but also knows how to have fun with it. It's about a family that runs a local haunted house for the neighborhood. It's pretty effective in getting to know about the characters and then running into what is a very gory segment where all hell breaks loose, and it is pretty much a fun visual effects reel. I do think it felt a little short at the end but it still was a solid entry. Overall, had fun.
3.5/5
I would put this up above from Beyond, even though a couple of those segments were much stronger than these ones. Still love seeing these every year, can't wait for them to tackle Christmas or Valentine's Day. 3.5/5
Big Brother as a found-footage horror film with heavy shades of Until Dawn? Yes, please. My Little Eye finds authenticity in its largely unknown cast (aside from a brief cameo by Mr. Bradley Cooper). Five contestants sign up for a reality show in a remote house they must endure for six months. If even one of them leaves, the group forfeits the million-dollar prize. Cameras are everywhere.
We join the cast late in the process, with only one week left, and strange things quickly begin to unfold. The result is a stylish, early 2000s slice of voyeur horror — fun, eerie, and deliciously atmospheric. It does feel a bit brief and unpolished, though.
Still, I really enjoyed My Little Eye. The digital cinematography is unsettlingly beautiful, and the sound design is incredible — full of distorted dial-up modems and ambient noise. It's special.
Finally, one of the guys looks like Leon S. Kennedy. I... can't ask for much more than that.
ngl, if they brought back Surge knowing that soda has an interdimensional Cthulhu monster inside it, I'd still drink it. This was pretty fun overall. It is more or less like last year's V/H/S Beyond, but the highs were a little higher. This one pretty much sticks to the Halloween theme pretty...
letterboxd.com
V/H/S/Halloween
ngl, if they brought back Surge knowing that soda has an interdimensional Cthulhu monster inside it, I'd still drink it.
This was pretty fun overall. It is more or less like last year's V/H/S Beyond, but the highs were a little higher. This one pretty much sticks to the Halloween theme pretty closely, even though a couple of them kinda overlap in the types of characters.
Diet Phantasma
This is the wrap-around segment by Bryan M. Ferguson where they do a research study/market taste trial of a soda that has something inside it and kills them. It's not bad, but not great, and it has the same feeling as the wrap-around segment in V/H/S/85. Funny enough, I liked the end credits part where they show the commercial more than most of the scenes and the kills. Overall, decent.
3/5
Coochie Coochie Coo
This segment by Anna Zlokovic was pretty good. It feels like a successor of the Storks segment from last year and the movie Barbarian. It moves really fast, and while I was kinda expecting more, the scares are decent enough, and the creep factor is really well done. It's also got some interesting effects design that is subtle enough to make it feel very off-putting. Overall, a really fun start.
3.5/5
Ut Supra Sic Infra
This one is the one that I had high hopes for going in, knowing it's by Paco Plaza, who made the REC movies and Veronica, and it's the one that disappointed me the most... only because it felt unfinished to me and probably felt the shortest of the segments. Still enjoyed the story for what it is, and the setup is pretty good about a survivor helping the police figure out the crime scene and how it flips back and forth between the interrogation and the video evidence of what happened. Overall, not bad, but I wish it were way better.
3/5
Fun Size
Maybe one of the most silly VHS segments out there by Casper Kelly, who is known for making Adult Swim shows and most notably the most insane short film "Too Many Cooks". This was incredibly silly, and the acting is so purposefully awful that it makes sense within the context. I do think the villain has a Sam from Trick' r Treat vibe, but if it were done as an Adult Swim character, I wouldn't be surprised if they brought him back for something else. The effects and the kills were creative and goofy enough to make it interesting. Overall, annoying at times but not bad.
3/5
Kidprint
Easily the best segment of the bunch by Alex Ross Perry, and it's easily one of the most disturbing and upsetting V/H/S segments they've ever done in this series. It follows a video store owner and his service of recording kids so they can give it to the police to ID them if they've gone missing. They do a good job keeping a very eerie vibe, and the performances were pretty good across the board. It oddly reminded me of the first 30 minutes of The Blair Witch Project in how it was set up, and a little bit of The Black Phone. It's a tough watch when it gets pretty serious, and where it leads is all disturbing in an unconventional way. Overall, one of the best and meanest V/H/S segments out there.
4/5
Home Haunt
The last and final segment by Micheline Pitt-Norman & R.H. Norman was pretty good, which has some depth but also knows how to have fun with it. It's about a family that runs a local haunted house for the neighborhood. It's pretty effective in getting to know about the characters and then running into what is a very gory segment where all hell breaks loose, and it is pretty much a fun visual effects reel. I do think it felt a little short at the end but it still was a solid entry. Overall, had fun.
3.5/5
I would put this up above from Beyond, even though a couple of those segments were much stronger than these ones. Still love seeing these every year, can't wait for them to tackle Christmas or Valentine's Day. 3.5/5
Figured I would go all the way back to the very beginning just as I am beginning a Buffy rewatch. Definitely the seeds of Buffy greatness, but SMG's Buffy starts out much, much more likeable. Rutger Hauer is always a fun villain. Not quite sure what the minor character doing a Jim Carrey impression was doing though....
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