Insidious

Jessie: 2 pops
Adam: 2 pops

We went to see Insidious the same night that we saw Rango expecting it to be pretty good. Here is www.imdb.com's synopsis:

A family looks to prevent evil spirits from trapping their comatose child in a realm called The Further.

I have to say, I was super excited for this movie because scary movies are my favorite and they normally don't release scary movies this time of year. But, I was definitely dissapointed. Let us know in the comments if you liked it or not or even if you want to see it and watch our video below to see what we thought of it.

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Jessie's thoughts:
2 1/2 pops

This was definitely a re-make that I was super excited about but in all honestly, it just wasn't that great. The original Nightmare on Elm Street is one of my favorite slasher movies and this one just didn't add up. It definitely had the same cheesy, 80's horror movie feel to it which was nice but it was lacking in a major way. Even if you hadn't seen the original so you didn't have that to compare it to, it just wasn't that good. It really wasn't very scary and the "twists" that they added will really just piss off any true Nightmare/Kreuger fans.
The one good point to this movie was Jackie Earle Haley. Although I would have preferred the original Freddy Kreuger, Robert Englund, Haley did do a very good job at portraying Kreuger. He was creepy and just disturbing enough to really make it work. However, he was the only good thing about this movie. As A Nightmare on Elm Street fan I really, really wanted to like this movie but it just didn't measure up and they just completely ruined a classic slasher flick. The only reason that this is getting 2 1/2 pops from me is because Jackie Earle Haley did an awesome job and the imagery was really cool. But whether you are a fan or not of the original, just skip this one and save your money for Iron Man 2 coming out May 7. I'm sure it'll be a lot more entertaining!

Adam's thoughts:
1 1/2 pops

I agree with Jess; about the only thing going for this movie was Jackie Early Harley or whatever his name is. The guy brought The Watchmen voice which was needed for this film and he made an alright Freddy.
Now, I only saw the original once back in the day and I remember that it was decently scary and held its own but I DON'T remember it being THIS cheesy. The acting was 80’s acting but even then it was flavored for the time. This film had some cheesy acting which made you wonder if they did it on purpose to match the original but mostly it just made it comical. If there is ONE thing I remember from the original film, it was not all laughs.
There is a twist in this movie that separates it from the original film but I’m not going to be a tattle tale and tell you here. Just know that it painted Freddy in a different light and I’m not entirely sure they should have done that. I like Freddy to be an evil son of a hoot, but there are just some lines that I don’t even think Freddy would have crossed… well, maybe. My idea of what Freddy was is probably different than others. As a kid, creatures like Freddy and Jason were on my list of favorite characters right along with Spiderman and Superman. So seeing him painted in certain ways definitely put a damper on this film.
I would have given this movie a one even with Harley in it if it wasn’t for one more thing. What boosted it halfway to two was the way the first scene played out. It was ruined later and never followed up on but there is a part where the character in a diner transcends from being awake to being in a dream. The way the diner itself shifted from being what it looked like when he was ‘awake’ to what it looked like in a nightmare was very interesting. The kitchen became a place of hell with roasting pigs and dark pipes. I wish they would have touched on that more throughout the rest of the film but it was the only time I really felt like this might be a good movie... then I watched the rest of it.

Save your cash, go see Iron Man.

The Crazies

Adam's thoughts:
3 pops

I know that 3 out of 5 seems a bit average, but this movie was not that bad. It has some very good qualities. Especially if you like that survivor horror movie you get from most zombie flicks. But, that’s the problem. When looking at this movie I can not find any unique aspects to it. Granted, we’re not dealing with zombies which was a nice change but it still had that feel of the end of the world and people dieing and turning. There were still plots of a survivor being infected and the small group getting taken out one at a time. Now that doesn’t mean this movie wasn’t good. If you enjoy these types of gory movies then you’ll enjoy this one as well. The acting wasn’t bad and there were some heart pounding moments as far as a scary movie is concerned. I just felt when looking back at all the other movies of this genre that I wasn’t really seeing anything that wasn’t already done by another movie. Maybe I’m just spent on this kind of film. So in my opinion you don’t have to go to the theater to see this. But if it’s a rainy Saturday night with your loved one and you want to see a flick, this one is the one to rent. It's gory, it's action packed and it’s not slow at all. The movie takes on a pace that gets it right into the end of the world very quickly. The only other thing that disappointed me was it bought into that similar gimmick all movies fall into these days, a cliffhanger for a sequel. I don’t mind sequels but I also don’t think every single movie needs to be put in a series. I think that’s just a way for the movie producers to keep making money off the franchise. What happened to the good old classic movies that were one in the same? Also I’m tired of seeing re-makes. That isn’t a slam against this movie, though, because although it’s a re-make the, original is so damn old no one knows what it is and when it was made the budget was so low that the movie just wouldn’t be that enjoyable today. This one was a good choice to re-make. Well I think my rant for this one is over. Now time to go rock myself back and forth in a corner and paint my face with a crayon.

Jessie's thoughts:
4 pops

I loved this movie and I’m so not even going to pretend like I didn’t. It was very suspenseful, very creepy, fairly unique and incredibly entertaining. There was not one moment that I was bored at all. There were a few parts that were definitely cheesy and kind of stereotypical, but whatever, it was still good. And I just have to say that the use of the music was amazing and I loved that it wasn’t the typical thriller music that you’re used to. There were actually scenes that gave me goosebumps because the music just fit so well with what was going on.
Now, I’ve never seen the original of this movie so I don’t know how to compare this re-make with it, but I can definitely say that this was very, very well-made. For all of the zombie movie lovers out there, you’ll definitely want to see this one. The people aren’t actually zombies but they’re close enough. I think that this was definitely a good pick for a re-make. Unlike Adam, I love it when they re-make old scary movies as long as they improve upon the original and don’t make it seem like a spoof.
I think that if you enjoy the survivor, zombie-ish, almost post-apocalypse type of genre then you should definitely see this one and I really don’t think that you’ll be disappointed. If you’re not so into the gory blood and guts type of thing, though, this one probably is one you should skip. Alright, I’m off to go take the crayon away from Adam and slap him back into reality... again.

Classic Movie Review: Night of the Living Dead (1990)

Adam's thoughts:
4 pops

For me this set the standard for traditional Zombie movies. It was low budget and yet you felt like you were watching a truly good cinema. Now don’t get me wrong, at this point in the present movies made back in 1990 can seem cheesy, especially the horror movies. Director Tom Savini did an alright job and writers John A. Russo and George A. Romero were a great team. Actress Patricia Tallman was about the only really good thing to see in this movie. Tony Todds acting was a bit over played and dramatic but you still ended up liking his character. The movie zombies were the best. The classic moaning and slow walking undead you expect. They looked dead too and for a movie that doesn’t have any cgi or crap in it, that is a major accomplishment.

About the only thing I can say badly about this movie was the damn screaming! Katie Finneran is in this movie playing a character named Judy Rose and the chick screams every 5 seconds! It gets to the point where you are wincing and holding your ears. That's about the only bad thing I can say about this movie. The rest of it is just plain classic. If you’ve never seen this movie and you enjoy the classics, go see it. It’s not overly scary but it has its moments. Mostly it’s just a good old zombie flick.

Jessie's thoughts:
3 pops

So... this was pretty classic, I'm not gonna lie. I agree with Adam that the zombies were amazing. They looked so real and were actually what you think of when you think of zombies - the walking dead. I'm so sick of how people now-a-days try to explain why the zombies are the way they are - there was an infection that got loose, some sort of chemical warfare, no one knows exactly but we think it's because of blah, blah, blah. Zombies are supposed to be the walking dead, does there really have to be a reason that they've come back to eat people? I think not! In that sense, this movie was awesome. Nobody knew why there were zombies that were trying to eat people, they just knew that they had to kill the zombies before the zombies could kill them.
However there were a couple of things that I didn't like, but I think that's mostly because this was made in 1990 and I'm just used to movies now. The first thing was what Adam said - the screaming. I mean, come on chick, there are flesh eating zombies everywhere and you're gonna scream every two seconds so you can attract even more of them to you? Really? You're an idiot. The second thing I didn't like was that at first all the women were portrayed in the stereotypical, early 90's way of being helpless and only being good for screaming and running. But, that later turned to something that I liked with one of the women because she became pretty badass as the movie went on. The movie was also very low budget and it shows. But, I think that knowing that this was an independent, low-budget film made in 1990 actually made me appreciate it a little bit more because you can see how much they were able to do with the little that they had.
Overall, I definitely think this is a classic horror movie that you must see if you like horror movies at all. It began the whole zombie craze, and who doesn't love zombies? I mean, really, zombies make the best villains. So, on one of those nights when you really don't have anything to do and you're in the mood for a cheesy, classic horror movie, you should for sure watch this one.