Movie Thoughts Bundle (2012) #1

In this collection of short reviews, we’ll explore the year 2012 where classic horror tropes get deconstructed in a funny yet gruesome fashion, the REC franchise makes a questionable creative decision, and giant CGI monster spectacle prove to not be enough to carry a movie. 

1. Cabin in the Woods - 8/10

Cabin int he Woods is a very unique self aware genre deconstructing flick that boasts creative story-telling, smartly written characters, and an overall entertaining experience that centers on a fun central plot twist. This is one of the rare cases where I felt the comedy component of a horror-comedy actually delivered strongly enough resulting in quite a few laughs from yours truly while the horror element didn't skimp out on the expected goods. Without spoiling too many details, the final climactic set piece towards the end is by far one of the greatest fan service-heavy moments in film history acting as one giant celebration of genre spectacle. It's where all of the fun little ideas and teases planted throughout the movie get simultaneously thrown together onscreen to create a horror lover's dream come true. It's truly a sight to behold. 

My only major problem with Cabin in the Woods is the feeling that I got after watching the film and leaving the theaters. I felt like I was given something indeed special and fun, but I also felt like I didn't enjoy the film as much as I was suppose to. After a bit of thinking, I believe this is due to some of the pacing needing to be a bit tweaked with certain scenes. Still, I highly recommend this for horror fans.

2. Wrath of the Titans - 3/10

Getting the surface level stuff out of the way, much like its 2010 predecessor, Wrath of the Titans offers fantasy cinema fans quite the assortment of impressive live action creature design execution and occasional visual spectacle. And...that's about where the praise ends for me here. The biggest problem with this sequel is that it simply doesn't learn from the mistakes that came before and actually does worst in many cases. Wrath of the Titan suffers from terrible pacing, occasionally questionable performances, lifeless characters, uninspired feeling character motives, unentertaining action scenes, and wasted potential for a modern greek mythology epic. There is a notable lack of emotional connection that I feel towards the main characters which is very problematic considering the high stakes that are being emphasized in the story.

2022 Re-Watch - 7/10

Tonight after watching Wrath of the Titans for the first time in roughly 10 years since that initial theatrical experience, I’ve now comes across an interesting discovery. Somehow, I actually ended up being fine with the storytelling this time around and dare I say even admired the overall expanding scope being attempted. This in addition to the action scenes being a little more entertaining than I remembered made me realize just how drastically impactful time away from a movie can be. Is it still flawed? Heck yeah it is! But is it as bad as I remembered? Shockingly...not at all.

3. Silent Hill: Revelation - 3/10

This sequel to the arguably underrated video game movie adaptation, Silent Hill, is a prime example of why this type of adaption has such a horrendous track record. Silent Hill: Revelation, despite having a couple of solid art direction elements, is downright plagued at its core with everything that makes these terrible live action iterations of fan celebrated properties hard to watch. What's not to list off here in regards to negatives that hurt the overall viewing experience? Revelations offers hardly much of anything worth celebrating and instead revolves around a terrible script to begin with, awfully bland characters, below mediocre level acting, cringeworthy dialogue, scenes that feel questionably inserted, and worst of all, the movie is downright boring at times. 

Simply put, there is absolutely nothing worthy of being invested in throughout the entire film. If you're just tuning into see some crazy horror visuals considering the franchise's reputation from the games, I recommend just checking out the promo images and clips online from the movie. This is definitely not worth the price of admission or rental sit through.

4. REC 3: Genesis - 5/10

The best way for me to describe REC 3 is to call it a "a very bold step...backwards". Overall, I commend this prequel for taking creatively courageous steps towards moving away from the found footage format utilized by its predecessors to tell its story. The filmmakers tried something different by starting it off as a found footage until eventually deciding to remove the element once the stakes set in. It's an admirable attempt and changing up the formula and one that, dare I say, is worth giving props to from a conceptual perspective. Well...on paper anyway. Guys, I'll just say it. No matter how much I applaud any work of art for being somewhat ambitious, execution is what matters in the end and REC 3 pretty much fails in making its ideas work as a franchise follow-up title. 

The horror and suspenseful component of the previous two movies were masterfully interwoven in the feeling of realism from its use of found footage. By removing this angle, REC 3 ends up removing all of the benefits that comes with it. As a "standard film", this movie feels drastically watered down in comparison lacking in all creep factor and tension. If that wasn't bad enough, some of the performances this time around were noticeably over the top which completely took me out of the film at times. The same can be said for some of the horror-action sensibilities inserted to bizarrely inject some sense of fun factor much akin to the Resident Evil movies. 

I do wanna reiterate that there are some ideas in this movie that I think would've worked, but perhaps in another property entirely. Like many horror franchises, REC 3 is an example of what happens when a series starts to tragically sink in quality after such a strong beginning. I'd recommend checking out the first two movies as I do consider them to be top notch found footage horror titles. And unless you're an obsessive completist, I'd say skip this one.