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Debaser Film

One Cut of the Dead

I’ll start by saying that this has got to be the best (well, my favorite) movie I’ve watched this year. As I mentioned in my post about Les affamés, I’m pretty sick of the zombie genre, but still decided to watch this because I had heard that it was great — but I avoided spoilers, and so didn’t know what made it great. I feel like explaining why I enjoyed it so much will maybe ruin the experience for someone coming in to watch it, so I prefer not to say anything except that this is for people who enjoy the horror genre, as well as the filmmaking aspect of the movie business — and yes, this is a comedy, and during the final half hour I found myself laughing uncontrollably. I can’t recommend this enough.

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Debaser Film

Les affamés (Ravenous)

I was looking through Netflix’s horror movie category for things to watch, and came up on this, a French-Canadian zombie flick that was apparently critically acclaimed (it’s under the English title Ravenous, and was released in 2017). Even though I’m pretty sick of the zombie genre in general, I decided to watch it — thinking that having Quebec as a setting would be interesting. I will say that technically, I think this is well made film, in terms of filmmaking. My biggest disappointment though was that the aspect of the film that was presented that seemed really interesting and novel (the zombies create these tall structures and gaze at them) is never explained — we don’t even get a tiny suggestion of what it might mean. What you’re left with is just a few people surviving a zombie apocalypse, like we’ve seen countless times before (and especially in the Walking Dead). I wouldn’t say it’s a bad film, but it missed the mark for me.

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Debaser TV

Creepshow (2019)

This is a new series that’s currently airing on Shudder, and it really does feel like a proper follow-up to the original movies. It really embraces the comic book aesthetic as well — all framing sequences are done in that style, including some bits during episodes — and it just feels fun to watch. Sure, it’s a bit on the low budget side — something you mostly notice when it comes to creature effects — but I think it suits the campy vibe of the series. I’ve watched the first two episodes (which are themselves divided in 2 half-hour episodes), and liked pretty much all of them — the one with the dollhouse was especially great. Well worth taking in of you were a fan of the original movies, or enjoy fun campy horror.

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Debaser Film

Swallowed Souls: The Making of Evil Dead 2

I loved this documentary. It’s no secret that Evil Dead 2 (and to a lesser extent Army of Darkness) is one of my favorite movies, and so this made for a fun trip back to examine what made it such a classic. It includes interviews with pretty much everyone involved, except for Sam Raimi — plenty of Bruce Campbell definitely compensates for that omission though. If you’re a fan of the original movie, then you’ll surely have a great time watching this.

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Debaser Film

Overlord

This was something I’d been wanting to watch for ages — I tend to like stuff produced by Abrams — and this year’s October marathon felt like the right time. I’m not quite sure what to say though — I thought it was well made and it’s a neat idea (the Nazis are behind some crazy experiments during WW2), but I somehow didn’t find myself enjoying it that much. It took me a few watch sessions to get through it, and it’s not that long a movie — although come to think of it, it probably didn’t need to be two hours. I think there’s something to like here, but I can’t really recommend it that highly.

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Debaser Film

In the Tall Grass

When October hits, it’s always good to see a new Stephen King-based movie pop up on Netflix. This is in fact based on a short story by King and his son Joe Hill — whose comic work I’ve quite enjoyed (Locke & Key), and I’m now reading his short story collection which includes this very story. I thought the movie itself was pretty good — nothing that blew me away, but it has some interesting ideas, and I liked how it wrapped up in the end. I think it’s well worth your time, if you’re in the mood for something creepy and suspenseful.

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Debaser TV

Ash vs Evil Dead (Season 3)

Last year for my Halloween marathon I watched season 2, and this year I’m watching season 3 (which is sadly its final season). I’ve just watched the first few episodes, but so far so good, pretty much what I want and enjoy from the series. I’m sure I’ll be a bit sad when I’m done watching the season, but here’s hoping the character lives on in some other form (one more movie, please).

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Debaser Film

Assassination Nation

I knew pretty much nothing about this movie, but I came across it on Prime Video while looking for some Halloween-themed stuff to watch, and I’m glad I jumped in (I did so after watching the trailer). It’s not necessarily a horror movie, but it does get inspiration from stuff like Heathers and The Purge, as well as bunch of other non-horror movies, like Kids. It’s about the extremes that a town can go to after a hacker starts releasing personal info (text messages, browser histories, etc.) of people in that town, and centering on a group of four teenage girls who then take matters into their own hands (after being targeted). It’s raw, graphic, fun, weird, and a lot of other things, and I found myself highly entertained.

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Debaser TV

Marianne

This is a French horror series that was added to Netflix a few weeks ago, and my wife and I have both been enjoying it immensely. I still have the last two episodes to watch, but the series so far has been incredibly creepy, offering a neat storyline, with some really nice filmmaking (great shots of the town where most of the action takes place, etc.) Highly recommended.

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Debaser TV

The Purge (Season 2)

As I’ve written in the past (last year’s Halloween marathon included quite a bit of Purge releases), I quite like this series, and so I was excited at the prospect of a second season of the TV show. Only one episode has aired so far, but I already like the premise, which proposes that we spend the season looking at the year leading up to the next Purge (and the fallout from a Purge that has just ended). At least that’s what it looks like we’re going to get.