kaarmari jamesica haltan
Vittoria Pretlow
Everyone loves watching scary movies in October, of course. But true fright fans know no calendar. For real aficionados of the dark cinematic arts, any month, any day is a good time for horror, and Netflix is a proverbial graveyard full of terrifying delights waiting to be streamed.
A key film in the new wave of smash-hit mainstream horror (see also Sinister, The Conjuring), Insidious is the one with the creepy kid, the astral plane and the demon hiding behind the Big Red Door. Watch it alone, and completely scare your own pants off.
In a rare example of Hollywood sci-fi-horror thoughtfulness, Annihilation has grand concepts in mind, ideas about self-destruction and rebirth. The film follows cellular biologist Lena (Portman) as she ventures to The Shimmer, an anomalous electromagnetic field, to discover the truth about what happened to her husband Kane (Isaac), who visited The Shimmer and returned in poor health and his memory missing. Spooky stuff.
In this devilish subversion of the typical body-swap comedy, Vince Vaughn is an ageing serial killer who wishes upon a cursed dagger and ends up trading consciousness with a bullied teenage girl (Kathryn Newton). Genius, right? Okay, so that premise could easily flop. But director Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day) finds the ideal balance between knowing humour and serious gore. The only way to improve it would be to make Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan the leads.
We've been watching the Curious George:A Halloween Boo Fest and my 3.5 year old LOVES it. It's definitely been on repeat a few times in the past couple of weeks. I would agree that it's a typical Curious George episode that's just longer and involving the fall festival and costumes aspect of Halloween. My little one is not into scary stuff (she covers her ears or closes her eyes during the rats part of Tinkerbell) so finding a happy medium of "something involving the season of Halloween" and "not scary" can be tricky. For us this is a "Good" Halloween Netflix option. ?
I would also like to defend Curious George. I mean, the plot is pretty basic George but to be fair it is in the "Movies for ages 2-4" category. And throughout all the episodes of the show, Bill hasn't figured out George is a monkey and George is allowed to cook in a restaurant kitchen. What I'm saying is suspend some disbelief for the kiddos and the movie holds up just fine.
Yeah my little ones love Curious George Boo Fest as well, but like the two comments above, my kids are 4 and under. The review you read about The Addams Family is pretty spot on, although I don't remember a molestation reference but it wouldn't surprise me. And I love Scooby Doo so I will probably be watching that one during nap time today ?
Has anyone seen The Spiderwick Chronicles? Opinions? It got a pretty safe rating from Catholic News Agency and other reviewers, but I'm curious to hear any other opinions. It looked too scary for the youngest kids.
I saw Spiderwick as a teen and didn't care for it much. The costumes and the general art direction were fabulous, but it's pretty dark. It has a sort of Victorian treatment in the tragedies of the three orphans.
I don't remember much beyond that, though.
Haunted Mansion had some weird "stealing another guy's wife because you believe she is your dead wife reincarnated" stuff. Better to stick to the ride.
I also love the Curious George Halloween movie. It isn't super annoying, and I can potentially sleep through it. Not a ringing endorsement, but it makes my "I have a toddler and a newborn and need some sleep" cut.
Not on Netflix streaming (but should be): Wishbone "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" episode, and Hocus Pocus. The Wishbone episode has the cute dog for the littles and a level of creepy for biggers. Hocus Pocus actually imparts that the devil is a real person who is working in the world concept (with a nod to the guy-in-a-red-suit-as-a-devil thing.)
Elizabeth, I haven't seen Hocus Pocus, so I don't know about that. But as far as Harry Potter goes, the way *I* see it! is that there is a distinction between "the occult" and "magic." The occult is cooperating with satan to get power or favors. If a book or movie deals with the occult, it needs to have the appropriate consequences. Disney's Princess and the Frog is a good example of that done well.
Harry Potter, on the other hand, deals with "magic" not the occult. They just live in a world that has magic in it. There are people who use it for good and people who use it for evil, but no one is calling on the devil. Narnia, Lord of the Rings, fairy tales, all just have magical worlds. I don't have a problem with that. At all.
I love that explanation, thank you! I hadn't pinpointed why I was fine with magical worlds but other magicky things bug me. Tipping my hat to Once Upon a Time again, for their lovely good v evil plots with magic AND consequences. Even if Jesus is just there allegorically.
My kids love the Curious George Halloween Boofest and I think it's good. The songs are horrible, it is true, but the animation is sweet and attractive and *my* kids have fun being scared of No Noggin. For little kids it has just the right amount of creepy and there's nothing inappropriate like in the Scooby Doo (which we had to stop letting our kids watch for similar reasons.)
1. I didn't call them "bad," I called them "bad *asterisk*." An asterisk changes everything.
2. It was my intention to be very clear that I didn't think that there was anything objectionable about the shows, just that they weren't my personal preference.
3. I can only barely tolerate the Curious George books. They live at Gramma's. I love a naughty anthropomorphic animal as much as the next mom, but I prefer them to get what's coming to them, Peter Rabbit-style. I'm fairly confident I won't like it.
I don't like Curious George either. I don't ban him or anything, but I agree on the consequence issue. Nothing annoys me like a disobedient character when the story works out for the better often as a result of the disobedience. That and the, "Oh, George!" dialogue. Like mischief and disobedience are almost cute, if a little exasperating. I always want to jump into the show and give George some real consequences, and I'm always hoping my kids don't think their obnoxious behavior could ever be construed as cute, funny, or ultimately for the better!
Yes, George drives me crazy a lot but it's because of the people. Like, of course your dinosaur bones got all messed up! You brought a MONKEY to a MUSEUM and let him run around! They actually remind me of dog owners who have Granddog stickers on their vehicles.
I love, love, love the Addams Family. And I think the key difference for us was my parents pointing out that this is exacty the OPPOSITE way people are supposed to act. That point was really driven home to me in the second movie, where their baby turns into a little cherub and Mortitia is reading him a sweet bedtime story. She skips to the end and says, "Oh no. He lives."
What age range would you suggest for The Nightmare Before Christmas? My kids are 6 and under. They say they like scary things but they do get nervous about them sometimes. (They watched Mickey's House of Villains all the way through even though it scared them. It was fun scary.) Mostly I'm wondering if it's worth bothering with it if everything is going to go over their heads. I could just stick with Charlie Brown, but I've seen it before and I know I would be bored.
I think if they can handle House of Villains, they should be fine with Nightmare Before Christmas. It's just visually creepy. It's not like a suspenseful music, things jumping out at you horror movie. All my kids have seen it. The only part that really concerns them is when Santa is kidnapped and in danger. They get really worried. But it all turns out okay.
Addams family is an overreaction. Yes there is some sexual innuendo, but it's not bad, and I've been watching that movie since the age of eight, and have never picked up on it. Great film, they're overreacting.
Love your explanation of occult vs. magic in a fictional world like Harry Potter! Well done, and pretty much the way I try to describe it to my kids and others.
We just saw the Curious George thing this am. My three and five tear olds found it scary. I liked the fact that George discovered facts to explain the mystery, but i was bothered by the adults going on about it. I am not into scary movies at all.
I tend to like Curious George. Of course, the Man is kind of an idiot, but my kids see that. They are not going to learn bad habits from the monkey. I think they learn from the natural consequenses of the crazy things George tries; its supposed to be a science-related show, not a parenting show. I always think George is kind of parallel to my one year olds. Mobile, trying things, learning, climbing, clueless!
Mike Flanagan had already built a reputation as a rock-steady horror filmmaker by 2016, but the sense of "holy crap, this guy can do anything" became set in stone once he took on a prequel to a critically-derided movie about an evil ouija board and made one of the scariest movies of the last decade. Ouija: Origin of Evil takes us to the 1970s, where fake psychic Alice Zander (Elizabeth Reaser) and her two daughters, Lina (Annalise Basso) and Doris (Lulu Wilson), perform seances for paying customers in the wake of Alice's husband dying. Doris, the youngest, spices up the act with the introduction of a ouija board, but the cursed item makes things all too real when it not only sends a dark spirit into the girl's body but exposes the deep-seated evil ingrained in the Zander's house. There is, to be very clear, absolutely no reason for Ouija: Origin of Evil to be good at all, so it's a downright shock that it's this horrifying and effective. And, because it's Flanagan we're talking about here, there's also a potent dramatic heart beating underneath all those bumps in the night. --Vinnie Mancuso
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