Were These Horror Movies Bad or Was I 12? pt. 2

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Hello and welcome or welcome back to another episode of my poorlyag aged opinions. That's right, we're going back to the well of old reliable younger haunted hippies bad horror movie opinions. There were a lot of them. I haven't made an installment of this series in a long, long time. I've made a couple videos in the vein of were these horror movies good or was I 12? And I think that I have made one installment of were these horror movies bad or was I 12? Alternative title that is too long for YouTube is were these horror movies bad or was my frontal lobe underdeveloped. That's actually the more apt title because a lot of these I watched when I was like you know in my late teens early 20s and now that theoretically she's fully cooked even though that's that has been debunked. It turns out your brain keeps developing for your entire life. But nonetheless, nowadays I have a better lens when it comes to forming my opinions on horror films. So, we're revisiting those old opinions and we are going to decide whether that opinion holds up, whether the movies actually were bad, whether I was underdeveloped in the old noggin or whether maybe it was a little bit of both. We're talking about some classics today. The Exorcist, Freddy the 13th, The Shining, Nightmare Before Christmas, Silent Hill, Freddy's Dead, and several more. So, this installment, she's going to be a good one. Before I get into it though, how rude of me I did not introduce myself. I am the haunted hippie. Government name is Kylie Roseanne, but also many know me as the Antichrist, Satan's favorite daughter.

[00:01:27]Even in exchange for my soul, I have been granted the wonderful opportunity about talking about horror movies for living on the internet. That's what I do here. So, if you are a horror lover, absolutely click subscribe, click the like button, and notification bell. That way, I will always stay in your feed.

[00:01:42]Let's get cracking on this. I will start with the oldest horror movies and work my way up to the more modern ones. There are still a lot of movies to cover in this series. I will not be done after today, but it takes a long time to put these together because I have to actually like rewatch all of these movies. So, finally enough time has passed that we can do another installment. And today we are starting with Salem's Lot, the original from 1979. I had tried to watch that movie eons ago, maybe the first year that I started my channel. it had been recommended to me and I could not finish it. Back in those days, it didn't matter really to me if something was like a certified classic. If I was not feeling it and I could not engage myself, I would dip. And especially that movie being 3 hours long, it she didn't stand a chance. Okay. Yes, I know that technically it is a miniseries, so it's technically maybe not a movie. Whatever the context in which we all watch it today, it is a film. Okay. I gave it another go about a year and a half ago and I actually did watch the entire 3 hours. Was it bad or was it underdeveloped? I have to say we are not starting off strong, folks. I I don't think it's good. Oh, by the way, a lot of these opinions are going to be very subjective, so let's just hold on to our patience. Let's exercise it. One of the top reviews on Letterbox was somebody saying, "This movie is so boring yet so comforting. Porridge horror." I had never heard that term before and I had latched on to it ever since. Haven't used the term in a while though. I kind of forgot about it till I went back on Letterbox today and I was like, "Someone called this porridge horror and I'll be using that terminology from now on.

[00:03:11]Thank you." And as you can see, this was a two star film for me. I think this is the kind of Stephen King story that I would really like in book form. I think the idea of like creeping vampires taking over suburbia and sneaking into your house and stuff that feels like something that would be a delicious, atmospheric, dreadful experience in book form. I can just kind of already imagine it in his writing. in practice as a movie. No, it she's not for me. Neither was the remake that came out. What was that also in 2024? I can't remember.

[00:03:41]That one didn't make a whole lot of noise. Even though it stars Lucas Pullman, I just thought that new one was okay. I felt like they corrected some of what I didn't particularly like about the original, but it just doesn't do that much for me in movie format. I It's the same thing with the Pet Cemetery adaptations. I'll always revisit the Mary Lambert films, but there is so much about the book that is just simply not adaptable in my opinion. And I just have a bit of a sneaking suspicion that Salem's Lot is kind of the same way, even though the subject matter is a lot more straightforward than something like, you know, the grief explored in Pet Cemetery or all the cosmic elements of it. I have a feeling there's got to be a lot more meat to it in his actual book. So, I'll read that someday. But, um, for now, that adaptation is not for me. And that is not the only Stephen King adaptation we'll be talking about today. Now, The Exorcist. Let's talk about The Exorcist. This is a movie that I quite frankly used to just [ __ ] on on my channel. I was like, "This movie is the antithesis of things that I have been taught in film school, particularly about like audio design and even some some stuff about like writing. We were taught things very staunchly by my screenwriting professor in college, which is unfortunate because for, you know, a couple years there, I had like a very dogmatic take on things. But also, I've been blessed that like the further away I get from film school and learning about all the technicalities of film and everything, the more I've let that just sort of shle off of my brain and I've gotten back to my roots of like just enjoying movies as they come. Thank god.

[00:05:12]But The Exorcist, honestly, I have to give little Kylie grace for not thinking that it was that great when I first saw it. I didn't see it as a wee child. You know, a lot of people in my generation, it's not just cuz I'm Jenzie. A lot of people in my generation do find the the original Exorcist terrifying. They're like, "Oh my god, it just traumatized me as a kid." I didn't see it that young. I saw it when I was 20 and I was first like really really heavily exploring the genre. Because as much as I've loved horror all my life, I really didn't start to like dive into the deep end until my early 20s. So that was at the very very beginning of that journey and I actually watched it with my dad. My dad who has shown me so much cinema over the course of my life and his dad as well and he didn't like it either. And of course you know my opinions were very close to his when I kind of started this journey and my opinions still are very similar to his. It's surprising like the amount of new releases that come out we feel the exact same way. I guess maybe it's not that surprising because he kind of, you know, was one of the creators of my taste. He didn't like it either. So, I didn't feel like crazy or something. I when I first watched it, I didn't get another outside perspective that was like, "Well, maybe look at it this way."

[00:06:19]Or I wasn't sitting on the couch with someone who was getting scared by the material and who was really uh, you know, gripped by the material or anything. It also just, you know, was slow for my taste. I wasn't really into 70s horror when I first started this journey. I think I've talked about that before. So anyway, naturally, I'd revisited this movie a couple of times since then. I'm actually shocked to see that I haven't seen it since October of 2023. I do wonder if my score would go up now because I'm like, "Holy [ __ ] like in in the blink of an eye, that's going to be 3 years ago." But I had revisited it for the release of The Exorcist Believer. And it turns out I was a little underdeveloped. Okay. And I think even back in 2023, I still could have been a little bit. I gave the movie three and a half stars. I did not give it a heart. I ribbed on David Gordon Green a little I was like, "Oh my god, I can't believe the patriarchy kept Chris out of the room. That was so problematic." That was that was funny.

[00:07:05]There are certain things about the movie that I don't think are ever really going to be for me. Like the profanity and everything that Reagan goes through, it's just kind of a tough like a little bit more of a depressing watch. And I'm not someone that typically likes bleak horror. I have to really be in the mood.

[00:07:22]And I can definitely appreciate bleak horror. You know, like the original Speak No Evil I do think is a great movie. I am not inclined to ever revisit it. Same thing with Eden Lake. Although enough time has passed with Eden Lake. I haven't seen it in like 5 years that I have kind of been hankering to rewatch it. So, The Exorcist is not bleak horror in the same sense that those are, but it has some similar elements that just don't make me grab for it every single year. You know what I mean? I have a lot more respect for The Exorcist now than I used to. And um I'm sure a lot of people are sighing relief at that. Another big one up next, Friday the 13th. I put out a lot of negative reviews of this franchise when I was first starting my channel. I think I was kind enough about it. I recently, you know, within the last 6 months have gone back and reacted to all those original Friday reviews.

[00:08:08]So, you can check those videos out if you want to see some of my original opinions. When we're talking specifically the original Friday, 100% I was underdeveloped. I'll tell you what happened, okay? I decided that that was kind of how I was going to start my my channel. I had reviewed a couple of movies before I started talking about Friday the 13th. You know, I'd gotten my channel up to like 200 subscribers at that point, and I was all excited to like get into it with a classic and have something to look forward to like making content about it every Friday. And oh my gosh, I like I'm just now kind of discovering these classics and the entire franchises that I didn't even necessarily know about. And so, I think I might have hyped myself up a little bit too much, but also I had not been exposed to very much '8s horror at all growing up. All the '8s movies I'd been exposed to were like, you know, Indiana Jones, just Amblin Entertainment type stuff. Okay. all very much horror adjacent, mostly blockbuster. So to see things that were lower budget from the8s, like my brain wasn't quite ready to receive that yet. And I was like, what the hell is this? A lot of those movies in the beginning didn't really super feel worth the time of day. So 100% I think with like a lot of the franchise, she was underdeveloped. She didn't really have the appreciation for that lowbudget charm. Now, consuming lowbudget horror is one of my favorite pastimes, but I disagree so vehemently with a lot of my old opinions that I actually took those old reviews down. I just I'm sorry, like if anybody, you know, is for some reason nostalgic for 2020 and the old content that maybe brought you here initially, it just felt like enough time had passed. I had let that live on the internet for longer than it needed to. I don't feel that any of those opinions represent me anymore.

[00:09:42]So, it just to me it didn't make sense to keep them up on my channel. You can still more or less see them, okay, in my in my reaction videos. You can still kind of see them, so don't worry about that. They're not like gone forever. All the most outrageous bits are still on the internet, actually. So, I'm so happy about my Friday the 13th journey. If you told 20-year-old Kylie, who you know was talking about how problematic the original movie was, that, you know, 6 years later she would be collaborating with Harry Manfredini and she would become acquainted with Tom Mclofflin.

[00:10:10]She'd be like, "No, but no way. Like, I've been talking shit." Dreams can come true for annoying opinionated girls out there. I promise that was a long ramble all to say that I now love the original Friday the 13th. I think I have the original like in my top five of the franchise. The turning point for me was definitely going to a screening of it. I think this was back in 2023. I went to the Greek theater, the outdoor theater with my friend Natalie and it was a Cinspia event. It was projected on a giant screen and there were photo ops there and there was a really great crowd and everyone was like laughing at all the corniness of it. Oh, that was so fun. So, that was a turning point seeing it with a crowd. I was like, "Oh my god, I get it now." I feel like that's the closest I'll get to being transported back to the 80s and watching it with like a really riled up crowd. So, that was the turning point. Now, I love that movie. Next up, we have The Shining. And boy, do I have a weird tail to spin for you all on this one. I watched this movie for the first time when I was 16.

[00:11:06]I think that it was like on Netflix or something and I was with my very weird boyfriend at the time and we threw it on because at that time, you know, like I I had explored some horror. I think by that point I'd already seen Scream and so I was interested in watching classic horror and stuff and just had only known the reputation of the movie as being one of the scariest of all time and was really excited to check it out. And then, you know, we're watching it about halfway through a bunch of his friends come over. I forget why. So, it's like me and a bunch of other like teenage boys watching The Shining. Not not the best crowd because I just think that none of us were really smart enough to fully process everything about that movie. Also, because of the odd, very cubricesque framing and pacing of it.

[00:11:52]Obviously, that's not something that like Gen Z 16-year-olds understand. God bless if that wasn't the case for you.

[00:11:58]like I'm I'm happy for you if you grew up on The Shining and like you caught the vibe from a younger age. I did not and neither did the people that I was watching it with. By the time that we got to the end where Jack is in the photo with like all the hotel crew and all the guests and stuff, we were all just like, "Okay, what? Like what has ever been going on?" Like cuz also, you know, there there's like the scene where there's the furry who's given the guy a [ __ ] or whatever. Most teenagers like they're not going to be like, "Ah, yes, a metaphor for capitalism or whatever."

[00:12:27]So by the time it was over, I remember one of his friends saying, "Okay, I need to Google like the entire meaning of of that whole movie. Like what did we just watch?" So I did not like it at the time. I think that maybe the first time I revisited it with my channel, I I don't think I caught the vibe then either. By the time that I rewatched it in May of 2023, again, I can't believe this is already 3 years ago now. I realized that I was underdeveloped. Yes, I love The Shining. At that time, I give it four stars. I would not be surprised if I watched it now. and that score went up. There's not much left to be said about The Shining, right, on a technical level. But now I obviously have so much more of an appreciation for that after having consumed like, you know, thousands more movies and being on film sets and stuff. Yeah, that'll put things into perspective with The Shining.

[00:13:11]Things also flipped on their head for me where I think when I was younger, I could respect the crazy performance from Jack Nicholson. When I got older, I was like, "Oh, no. Shelley Duval had the better performance of the two of them, like no doubt." So, it's been quite the journey, but The Shining, I do love you.

[00:13:25]Next up, we've got Kujo. I first watched this several years ago, and it was a two-star film for me on Letterbox. I remember just being very, very bored by it. I thought that it was incredibly slow. I did not think that the rabbid dog element was enough for an engaging plot. It seemed like it showed up a little bit too few and far between amidst all of the boring character drama. But then last year, I finally read Kujo for the very first time, and it ended up being one of my favorite horror books of the entire year. You can see my entire ranking. I ranked all the horror books that I read in in 2025. But I just became absolutely enamored with that novel. And so I got really excited to uh rewatch the adaptation. And what I found was that it was the movie, it wasn't me. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Don't come for me. But actually, I don't think that there are that many Kujo truthers out there. It's not that well-rated of a film, but it has so much potential. The children, they yearn, they yearn for a properly adapted Kujo.

[00:14:25]Give it to us. All of the character dynamics are so unbelievably rich and fascinating in the actual book. I'm like, where is that? Where is that? I don't know if it's something to do with the casting or the direction and the collaborators not being involved enough with the material, but it is so rich and it just doesn't come across at all. It comes across very flat like you know, everybody involved in getting the story across is there to just kind of do their job rather than really living it. And yeah, I just I want to see it done better cuz it is such a good book. And that's really that on that. So honestly, we can move along to The Nightmare Before Christmas. The Nightmare Before Christmas, I don't super recall watching it for the first time. I want to say that that also was probably within the first year or two of my channel. Or that one could have even been earlier. I You know what? I probably did try to watch that as a teenager because I was so obsessed with Tim Burton specifically as a child. And then no, it did continue through my teen years because I really latched on to his remake of Alice in Wonderland. The stuff that he was putting out in the 2010s wasn't great.

[00:15:31]It didn't match what he was putting out, you know, in my youth. But I am sure that I actually probably tried to watch Nightmare Before Christmas in my teen years. And surprisingly, despite being so obsessed with Corpse Bride and also, you know, enjoying Coraline in my youth, I did not catch the vibe of the Burton Celic collaboration on Nightmare Before Christmas. I think maybe because in the early '9s, animators had different sensibilities. If you look at even just the contrast in Disney animation from the '90s compared to now, well, you take it back even further, you know, like 30s, 40s, '50s, '60s, you've got the gorgeous like handdrawn animation with so much character to it. In the '9s still, I still enjoy their 2D animation, Lion King, Aladdin. Compare that to now and the way that like the Pixar movies look and everything. It's just all like standardized. There's nothing that feels very human, like there's a singular artistic touch to anything anymore. As a child of the early 2000s, I grew up during the beginnings of some of that standardization. So, I wasn't really quite ready for the vibes of Nightmare Before Christmas. It is something different. Now, obviously, it's super commercialized and it is so popular and Disneyland does their ooie boogie Halloween party every year and super super popular now. It was a cult classic for the longest time. like it does have this weird kind of avantguard vibe to it that now has been kind of like co-opted and commercialized, but it was different. I wasn't ready for it. So, by now you could probably gather, yes, I was underdeveloped. Now, it is a four-st star film for me. It still doesn't really hold a candle to like Coraline and Corpse Bride, but I love the character designs. I love some of the songs. My only thing with it is that despite it being such a short movie, for some reason, parts of it do kind of drag. Also, obviously, like I'm a huge, huge, massive Danny Elfman girl. And that realization didn't hit until a little bit later in my life when I kind of stacked up all the Tim Burton stuff that I loved and realized how much I loved the music and that it was Danny Elfman behind all of that. So, yeah, things have uh things have changed over the years, and thank God for that. I enjoy so many more movies now, including maybe maybe Freddy's.

[00:17:38]The first time that I watched this movie, I don't think that I was on letter boxed yet or I was, but I like wasn't logging movies that I was going to review cuz I'd be like, "Let me keep it a surprise." And now I'm like, "You stupid idiot. You should have logged it." What I can tell you is that I'm pretty sure it was no holds barred my least favorite of the franchise. When I did my original ranking of the franchise, I was like, "This is so stupid. This is so Looney Tunes goofy.

[00:18:02]Like, what the hell am I watching?"

[00:18:03]These days, I am much better at releasing my personal expectations, and I feel like I'm just so good at meeting movies on their own terms. Oh my god, I have logged it on Letterbox before, though, and I did give it a half star at one point. Told you that was September of 2022. And then I rewatched it this past January, so just a couple months ago, and I gave it two and a half stars.

[00:18:23]So, was it bad or was my brain just underdeveloped? I think it's a little bit of both. The movie is bad. Like, it's not it's not good, but I do think that there is a lot of fun to be had with it. I think certainly a lot more fun than Freddy's revenge. Part five is still just abysmal to me. But uh Freddy's dead I I have a good time with.

[00:18:40]Genuinely I gave it two and a half stars, but I also gave it a heart. So I am enlightened. I guess I am. I feel like that one kind of speaks for itself because that's a movie where absolutely most people hate it. And there are kind of two camps. Either you hate it or you can kind of be accepting of it and you have a fun time with it. I don't think I've ever run across anybody that genuinely like loves that movie. I feel like it's usually one of the other two.

[00:19:01]But yeah, we could stop it there. You know what I'm talking about. Next up is fear.com.

[00:19:05]And this one I won't waste too much time on because I talked about it just recently. I think it was my April recap.

[00:19:12]I watched this for the first time in 2021 and I did not even finish it and for some reason I still rated it on letter boxed. I used to do that. I don't do that anymore. If I don't finish a movie, it doesn't go on letter boxed, but I might talk about it here. I give it one star and I just said bad. No elaboration on that. Just sometimes that's all you need to say. And so I thought enough time has passed. It It doesn't really make sense to me why I didn't like this movie because it should have all the elements for it to be so bad that it's good for me. So pop that bad boy back on and wouldn't you know it. Nope. It's it was the movie. The movie was bad. It's not me. It's you.

[00:19:47]It's just nonsensical. I'm kind of repeating myself at this point. But I could only keep myself engaged for like the first 10 15 minutes. And even though I've been so good about like putting my phone in another room while I'm watching movies, I leave it to charge and like I lock in. I can't help it if my brain still wanders anyways. And that is what happens with Fear.com. I find it physically impossible to pay attention to it for longer than like the first 15 minutes. I was really glad to see people echoing pretty much that exact same sentiment on Letterbox as well. It is just it's just not a watchable movie to me. Also, there's some gratuitous like booby violence and stuff going on and you know that's not for me. How about Silent Hill though? We just had the release of Return to Silent Hill. So, I revisited that movie. I watched uh the original sequel from when or the early 2000s at some point. You know, I I never knew what was going on with those movies. I knew that I kind of liked the atmosphere of it back in the day. I I popped it on when we had a very foggy morning, and I was like, "This is a vibe, but the movie's terrible." In revisiting it, I really wanted to understand what the hell was going on. I wanted to lock in. I wanted to know some of the lore to walk into Return to Silent Hill. Wanted to have a more well-informed review. And did that happen, my dear children? Well, no. If you saw my review of Return to Silent Hill, you would know that I was just as confused as ever. I do not think the movie is good. I would really, really love to actually play the games. And now I have a PS5. So, I will get to that at some point. In fact, I think the last piece of gear that I need to start streaming my video games should be coming this week. So, hopefully by some point in June, I'm I'm streaming video games. I'm going to be starting with Resident Evil. I already purchased it.

[00:21:24]And Dead Space. I also purchased Dead Space because they were on sale. But Silent Hill, I really don't know if it's because I haven't played the games and so I just find the story to be very bizarre and I don't really get it. Not sure if that's the case. If it is actually just the movie itself and it's a poor adaptation. I don't know. But it is not for me, honey. I don't know what's going on. I kind of enjoyed the second one a little bit more. I actually found that one to be a little bit more so bad that it was good. But yeah, unfortunately my verdict on Silent Hill is bad. Next up, we have Rob Zombies Halloweens. These are movies that I spent a couple years Yeah, a couple couple years trashing on this channel.

[00:21:59]If you couldn't tell, it pains me to say that a little bit. So, I am kind of already giving the answer away. But, yeah, this is another thing that I absolutely was not ready for. I grew up in a very socially conservative household. By that, I mean like morally progressive. I have very morally progressive parents, but socially conservative in the sense that like you don't put your elbows on the dinner table. you excuse yourself if you have to like burp or fart or something like that's not funny, that's rude type vibes. So, the swearing of it all and just the white trash of it all, especially in like that first movie, it is so so brutal. Also, because I accidentally watched the director's cut the first time that I watched the original Rob Zombies Halloween and the assault scene was just so rough. That was too much for my young mind. I absolutely hated that. And back at that time, if I felt that strongly about a movie, like if I felt that repelled by a movie, I didn't take into account necessarily like the intent of the director to do that to me. Sometimes I don't care about the intent. Sometimes that is just too much. But having gone back and revisited that movie so many times now, I find myself feeling like a magnet to that film more and more. So, like the more I watch it, the more I want to watch it. I tend to rewatch the entire Halloween franchise every single year. I think I've done it for like the last three or four years straight. And this past season, the first movies that I wanted to watch were The Rob Zombies Halloweens. And in fact, then I rewatched them in November because I wanted to talk about them with my dad.

[00:23:25]We talked about them on our podcast, Boomers, which uh members and patrons have access to. So, yeah, the socially conservative dad that I grew up with that I was raised by. He also has seen them and spoken about them on this channel. His opinions will shock you.

[00:23:38]So, I've gone from hating these movies to I think that Rob Zombies Halloweens have become maybe the most rewatched movies of the franchise for me. Probably besides the David Gordon Green movies and maybe the original. I don't know.

[00:23:49]I've seen the Halloween movies so so so many times. So, The Verdict is absolutely my brain was underdeveloped when I first watched the Rob Zombies Halloweens. I love those movies now so much. Next up, we're going back to Tim Burton here with Dark Shadows. Okay, this movie and I go way back together.

[00:24:03]Okay, my dad and I both loved Tim Burton when I was a kid, so we were going to be sad when there was a new Tim Burton movie in theaters, especially if it was like vampires and especially at the time we loved Johnny Depp. My dad and I were obsessed with Pirates of the Caribbean and also he really liked the Alice and Wonderland remake, too. So, we were going to be sat for this. And I remember I think that I was in like sixth grade or something when it came out. It was my dad and I and not very many other people in the theater. I was in school, so I can't imagine we went on a school night.

[00:24:30]I think we went, you know, probably not opening weekend, but there weren't really that many people in the theater.

[00:24:34]And my dad and I could not catch the vibe of this movie. We did not get the humor. There were some parts that were kind of overly sexual. Like there's a crazy kind of sexual scene between Eva Green and Johnny Depp. And that just was very, very uncomfortable for my dad and therefore uncomfortable for me cuz also I was like 11. And back then where our tastes were at back then that was another thing was like my dad had absorbed this from his dad where they really kind of hated sex in movies and like swearing in movies and stuff. So back then that would be enough to like derail the whole vibe for us and for us to like not understand what Tim Burton was putting down with that. Fast forward to I want to say like 2021 was the first time that I rewatched Dark Shadows. I fell in love with it. I was like this is so camp. This is so funny. This is so gothic. This is everything that Tim Burton does well. Like I'm a grown-up now. I'm not put off by the things that my dad are put off by, right? I thought it was like one of the best Danny Elfman scores I'd ever heard. You know, I did a complete 180 on it. But I revisited it.

[00:25:36]I want to say maybe in like 2024, and I feel like nowadays, I would say it's a little bit of both. It is absolutely not one of his strongest movies, but it's just so fun. The kind of overly glamorized '7s aesthetic of it is also so fun. I love the fashion. Michelle Fefeifer is in the movie. It's not great, but it's silly and I do still enjoy revisiting it. So, The Verdict, a little bit of both. Next up, we have Don't Breathe from Fed Alvarez. I watched this movie when it came out in theaters. I remember being so excited for it at the time. I was right in the perfect age demographic for the marketing where it's like, wow, imagine this concept breaking into a blind man's house and then him also taking away your site. simple, amazing concept for a teen, very easily consumable, but also the marketing was kind of very like loud and this is going to be so scary and everything. And then I went to the movie and it actually was. But at that point in time, yes, a child has a more malleable brain, but not malleable enough to understand the nuances of cinema. In many ways, the turkey baster scene and the uh previous reveal to that was enough for me to go, "Oh, that is horrendous. Oh, this movie is bad. Oh, this left me feeling a bad type of way.

[00:26:47]Oh, the movie is bad. That was too shocking for me. It was just too much at the time. I had not revisited the movie since. But of course, in 2024, Alien Romulus comes out and I'm getting really hyped about that. So, with my audience, I decided to revisit Fede Alvarez's Evil Dead and also Don't Breathe. And I do always tend to enjoy myself a little bit more when I'm doing watch alongs with my audience because, you know, it feels more like a a group thing watching it with people, getting other people's commentary. So that always enhances the experience. But I just was so much more locked in again to the film making of it all. It very much was the same effect as The Shining where previously watching it as a teen, knowing nothing about what goes into the making of a film and everything, I didn't have the appreciation for it. Whereas the second time around, I was like, "Oh, yep. Brain was underdeveloped. I cannot even believe the cinematic achievement that is the sound design and the sound mixing of Don't Breathe. I still think that Fede Alvarez is one of the best directors maybe of all time just in terms of sound and utilizing sound. Not enough other horror directors do that enough. They think, "Oh, loud a sting in the in the score. That's smart sound."

[00:27:53]No. Fett Alvarez is truly, I believe, like one of the only ones really doing it right. I absolutely adore Don't Breathe. I think it is such an expertly crafted film. Next up though, we have The Human Centipede. Oh, what joy. I first watched this with a boy that was kind of a fun summer fling in between junior and senior year of high school.

[00:28:15]And I swear I was like housesitting for my neighbors and we were in their pool or we were in their treehouse or something and I had brought my laptop and we had the bright idea to watch The Human Centipede. I don't know why. And obviously that was a horrendous experience. I feel like I should not have done that to my young mind.

[00:28:32]Surprisingly though, I forgot the majority of that movie. It didn't traumatize me. It didn't burn itself into my mind. I think I was 16. Maybe I'd already turned 17 by the time I was watching that. But oh, lucky me, I've revisited that film and pretty recently.

[00:28:47]The thing is, I crowdfund for my short films and every time we reach a $1,000 milestone, I will torture myself with a horrible movie and we'll do a watch along. we watch it together or you just watch me watch it and squirm. And we watched the entire Human Centipede trilogy together because of your wonderful generosity in donating to my short film. The Human Centipede was, I guess, maybe not quite quite bad as I remembered because I was like, wait, why is this movie kind of gorgeous? Like, why is the lighting and the composition kind of slaying right now? But oh my god, it's so horrible. I still landed at a one and a half star rating. That almost feels generous to me. Okay, I cannot believe that I sat through that movie again and then watched the rest of the trilogy. If you would like to see my reactions to it, the entire uncut reaction is available to members and patrons and then I did do like a cut down video version of it on this channel, so you can just watch that too.

[00:29:40]You can see just how bad it was. So, the verdict, bad, bad, bad, bad. Now, moving on to The Thing from 2011. I actually do have my original review of this movie back from January of 2021, so 5 years ago. Gave it two and a half stars. I still gave it a heart though. But I have to stress there is a big difference in my two and a half star ratings from 2026 and my two and a half star ratings from 2021. I used to be much more harsh.

[00:30:05]Whereas now I would say that like okay an average C rating to me is probably like three stars. Three stars means I don't regret watching it. I might even recommend it. Maybe not a great movie though, you know, or maybe it just wasn't for me. So two and a half stars.

[00:30:19]That's just a half step below that. It's not horrendous. it probably means that like I don't regret watching it, but that I probably wouldn't watch it again, you know, something like that. Back then, I would say a two and a half star rating to me was probably an actual 50% like an F. And it seems like the main thing that I was hung up on was just the CGI of uh of all the gore and stuff and the the creature. Nowadays, that kind of thing doesn't really bother me if the design of it is still cool. Like, I really do not get hung up on bad CGI.

[00:30:46]So, that being said, maybe it's obvious, but I believe that I was underdeveloped at the time. The last time that I watched the movie, I gave it four stars.

[00:30:52]I actually kind of fell in love with it.

[00:30:54]One of my favorite things about that movie is the homages to the original because I do feel like they really shook things up. It's all obviously like very familiar territory. And maybe for some people it feels a little too familiar, maybe retreading it too much. But I really feel like they shook things up enough to where I was obsessed. Like I love the original The Thing and I'm just happy to see more of it. I also love Mary Elizabeth Winstead horror queen.

[00:31:18]And also, I love them shifting the dynamics and having her as the leading character, kind of the leader of the situation, or rather at least like the smartest person in the room. I think my last review was something like this is why you always listen to a woman or something. Yeah, I said proper lesson in remembering to listen to women, and I stand by that. I also love the updated looks to the thing. Even if it is CGI, it gets gnarly. I think it's a lot of fun. Later in the 2010s, we got Jigsaw.

[00:31:43]A very different kind of installment to the Saw franchise and one that I was not very accepting of upon my first viewing.

[00:31:50]The first time that I watched through the Saw franchise, I kind of felt like the quality just kept steadily declining. Then Saw Six was perfect and then it was like back down the tubes we go. But I checked out the entire franchise to prepare for Spiral that came out in 2021. And Jigsaw was one of the least remarkable to me at the time.

[00:32:08]I'll keep this short and sweet.

[00:32:09]Honestly, I don't think that Jigsaw is great. I think maybe it's a little bit of both. But for the most part, I do kind of feel like I was a little underdeveloped, at least in my tastes.

[00:32:18]These days, it kind of doesn't really matter how bad the actual movie is. If a Saw movie has some traps, if I see a lot of bloodshed, if Tobin Bell is going to pop up, I'm going to be pretty easy to please. I'll be so honest with you.

[00:32:32]That's why Saw X was just such a huge, massive surprise in quality. I wasn't expecting that at all. So, even though Jigsaw I think sits at like three stars for me, I would still say I was a little underdeveloped. Just a couple more for today. Next up, we have The Cabin in the Woods. I might have to feature this movie in the next installment of this series. I don't know because I keep trying to rewatch it. And yes, the first time that I watched it, I didn't really catch the vibe almost at all. Neither the second nor third time around. I do want to say it's probably a little bit of both because at least now I can pick up more on like the undercurrents of the themes going on. I can appreciate maybe a little bit more of the meta narrative happening just because like I've seen so much more horror. I recognize obviously like more references to iconic horror, but something about that movie like it pisses me off. No, it pisses me off because everybody loves that movie so much. So many people love it so much, especially in the horror community. They always talk about how brilliant it is and I still have yet to catch the vibe.

[00:33:29]I don't know what is going on with that and I'm really jealous. I am, you know, I've been waiting outside the club for like all night and I just want to get in. What is it about that movie? I don't and why can't I click with it? It's so annoying. It's coming back to theaters this month. I don't think it's coming to mind. But maybe that'll inspire me to give it a rewatch at some point, some point soon rather, so that I can talk about it again in the next installment of this series because something has got to give. Okay, I'm I'm like weirdly getting a little bit worked up. So, let's move on now to Possessor. This will be the last movie of the day and the only movie of the 2020s that we'll be chatting about. There are only so many movies of the 2020s I can talk about. It kind of has to cap off around 2022, you know, because I think beyond the age of 23, this just the title of this series doesn't really work. But yes, Possessor. I so much did not catch the vibe when this movie came out. And this was during the era when I was first starting my channel, I think. I actually kind of can't remember because obviously like that was pandemic era. This was when my dad and I had first started to review some movies together. It was during, you know, the early stages of of that year. And like over the summer, I was showing him the Insidious franchise, The Conjuring franchise. And I remember us renting this, but I can't remember if it released digitally in 2021. No. Okay.

[00:34:42]It premiered theatrically apparently uh in the US on October 2nd of 2020. So, it must have come to digital very very shortly after that. We watched it in January of 2021 actually. Ah, I do have my first review. I don't know why I rated it at two and a half stars if I did not finish the movie. I think back in the day I would justify doing that based on like the quality of the movie, just like talking about the technical aspects and stuff and so I felt justified giving it some kind of rating based on that even if I hadn't finished the movie. I would never do that now.

[00:35:11]But I gave it two and a half stars at the time. I know that we didn't finish it because like I just we we couldn't hang. I was watching it with my dad and I think I think it was just the two of us. My boyfriend at the time also might have been visiting. I I don't remember.

[00:35:25]So went from not finishing it to then revisiting it in January of 2025, which is crazy because I thought it was a lot more recently than that. I still remember this movie very vividly. And we're ending on a high note. Yes, my brain was underdeveloped. I don't know that I could really say that I liked the movie because it's one of those super bleak ones that I was chatting about earlier that are not really for me. So, I gave it three and a half stars. I did not give it a heart. I do kind of wonder if I would now because it's not one of those movies that's so bleak that apparently I wouldn't want to revisit it because I think that I could rewatch it tonight and be happy doing so even though I watched it like a year ago.

[00:36:01]Typically don't revisit movies that frequently. I just think that it's a really really really smart film and it doesn't handhold you at all. You get to come to so many of the conclusions all on your own. Even though the movie does have what I would consider to be like a a pretty straightforward message, you do have to get there on your own. And I think that there are so many other considerations and things that I don't necessarily think about on a daily basis that this movie kind of shoved in my face. Really made me think. So I really respect Possessor now. I'm happy to say.

[00:36:31]So we're going to end it there. Let me go through some of the other movies that might be in the next installment. Just movies that I have not revisited since the first time or not recently enough to talk about them today. The Mummy from 1959. The Haunting. The one from the 60s. Fantasm. Rocky Horror Picture Show.

[00:36:47]Poltergeist 2. Sure. What the hell?

[00:36:49]Interview with the Vampire. Audition.

[00:36:52]The Exorcist 3. Yeah, I wasn't really crazy about that movie. Blair Witch Book of Shadows. The Scary Movies. I'm about to be re-watching these all with my audience actually in the leadup to Scary Movie 6. So excited about that. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Breitburn, Raw, Titan. Yeah, I did not like either of those movies really one little bit when I first saw them. Black Christmas from 2019. I think we know the answer to that. Candyman from 2021. Nope. Yeah, we've still got some work to do. We've got some answers to uncover about a lot of these movies. So, I hope that you'll join me for that. Again, if you're new, click subscribe. You made it to the end of a video. You might as well. Something else you need to know about me before you go. I have to confess that I love physical media. Look at her. Look at my collection over there. She is so glorious. And this is not all of it. I have a second channel that is almost exclusively dedicated to talking about physical media. Hauls, antihauls, hunting vlogs, organization videos, any and everything physical media related is over there. Subscriber mail unboxings, but you also get the random occasional vlog over there cuz it is also a hobby channel. So anyway, I've already mentioned the Patreon and memberships.

[00:38:01]There is a lot of different exclusive content and there's a lot of overlap in the bonus content there. So check it all out. find me on Instagram or whatever.

[00:38:08]More than anything though, I just hope that you enjoyed this video and that I catch you in the next one. Bye.