Saturday is Horror Day #156 - Silent Night (2021), Lake Mungo

 Silent Night (2021)

The apocalypse is happening... and everyone knows when. Nothing can be done to stop it. In preparation for the event, the government has provided citizens with Exit Pills, to avoid suffering when it does occur. Nell (Keira Knightley) and Simon (Matthew Goode) have a happy marriage and three sons. They decide they don't want to face this alone, so they invite their group of long-time friends to join them at a house in the countryside to have one last hurrah and see each other one last time before they accept the end by taking their pills. Everyone seems to be in relatively high spirits, and much drinking ensures. But not surprisingly, loose tongues reveal long-kept secrets, straining even the best of relationships as this group of friends waits for the apocalypse to occur. And one of Nell and Simon's sons, Art (Roman Griffin Davis) questions what the adults are doing.

I found this a very thought-provoking film, and one that it isn't impossible to envision. If not this 

particular scenario, then something similar. Like Art, I had so many questions about what was going on and how the adults were responding. This is the perfect what-would-I-do movie as you imagine yourself in their shows and think about how you would react to what is going on. Yes, there are some secrets revealed that might have/should have been kept to the grave, but some people just can't hold their liquor. It's also about love and shared history and togetherness. It's well acted, especially Knightley and Goode. I am a huge fan of Goode, which is how I became interested in watching this when I accidentally ran across it while looking up the other series, the Silent Night, Deadly Night series. Similar name, totally different. Also, you might remember seeing the boy who plays Art in JoJo Rabbit, which is a very interesting film.

My only real complaint, and a minor one at that, is something I found their accents difficult to understand, but if anyone is concerned about that, you can always turn on close captioning. I didn't, and I was fine with it. Like I said, this film gives you a lot to think about, and unlike a lot of horror films, it is a believable scenario. I'll give this film 4.5 Stars.

Lake Mungo

Alice Palmer (Talia Zucker) is only 16 when she drowns. Her parents, June (Rosie Traynor) and Russell (David Pledger) are grief-stricken, wanting to know why this happened, as is her brother Matthew (Martin Sharpe). But after her death, strange things start to happen, and the figure of the late girl begins appearing in new photographs.

The search for understanding what happened leads to the discovery of things about Alice her family didn't realize, that she led a secret double life. 

To be honest, this film didn't do it for me, although I've seen a number of good reviews for it. They talk about grief and how to deal with it, but that wasn't the kind of ghost story I was expecting, so maybe that's why I wasn't impressed. I kind of lost interest early on but kept going anyway. If this sort of thing interests, give it a try, just wasn't for me. I'll give this film 2 Stars.

Saturday is Horror Day #154 - The Mimic, Silent Night (2012), The Midnight Meat Train

 The Mimic

The Jangsan Tiger is an urban legend of South Korean, a creature that lures its prey by mimicking sounds such as a woman's wail. Hee-uyeon (Yum Jung-ah) and her husband Min-ho (Park Hyuk-kwon) are unaware of this. All they know is their son has been missing for five years and they feel the might to get away.; They take their daughter Jun-hee (Yu-sul Bang) and Hee-yon's mother Sun-ja (Heo Jin) to the countryside in an effort to get away from their troubles. But new troubles arise, including Jun-hee's growing dementia. Min suggests the woman needs care, as in a home, but Hee-yon won't hear of it, unwilling to lose another family member.

Their new home is near an old forest, and in that forest is a cave...

The Mimic is a horror story, but it's also about loss and grieving - the woman who mourns the son who disappeared and won't accept that he is probably dead, as well as the loss of her mother as she has always known her. The movie has an interesting opening, involving a couple who are up to no good at the cave, foreshadowing what is to come.

Everything clicks in this film, acting, writing, direction... It has a tremendous tension and suspense that only grows as the film goes on. The little girl is very cute too. I thought it was very well done, and I recommend it. I'll give this film 4 Stars

Silent Night (2012)

Twas the night before Christmas in a small Wisconsin town, but all is not well. Deputy Jordan (Brendan Fehr) is missing, so Aubrey (Jaime King) has to come even to cover his shift despite having plans with her family, to her dismay. But Sheriff Cooper (Malcolm McDowell) has decreed it, so she has no choice. She hopes it will be a peaceful night, but no such luck.

Her first call concerns a Santa that is telling kids disturbing things. Santa Jim (Donal Logue) is rather 

disgruntled and quite the cynic. After that, her next call leads her to a dead body... and suddenly the town is faced with the knowledge that someone dressed as Santa is on a murder spree. Trouble is, there are a lot of people dressed as Santa tonight, since it's Christmas Eve. And this guy is an equal opportunity killer - men, women, or children, he kills them all.  Ho, ho, ho... Merry Christmas!

This was touted as a remake of the original Silent Night, Deadly Night, but they might as well have called it Silent Night Deadly Night 6. To be honest, it was better than I expected, given the last few films. But not great. I wasn't bored, and it didn't drag. Lots of violence and gore, which is what you expect from these films. Malcolm McDowell was wasted, though, as I never did buy him as a small town Midwestern sheriff. Should have saved the money and gone with someone else. The high point of this film, in my opinion, was Donal Logue, who improves anything he is in. He does every character he plays well. Also, listen for the line "what is this, garbage day?" That's a reference from Silent Night, Deadly Night 2, spoken by Eric Freeman as Ricky (no, there's no Ricky in this one). Just gonna plus Eric's website, https://www.theeericfreeman.com/, where I bought a magnet with a photo of Garbage Day, and it was signed by Eric to me. For these two things, I'll give this film 2 Stars.

The Midnight Meat Train

Leon (Bradley Cooper) is a photojournalist with big dreams, but so far he isn't getting anywhere. An art gallery owner (Brooke Shields) suggests he isn't really "getting it", that he needs to go deeper. So he begins to wander the streets at night, desperate to achieve something, taking photos of random people, to his girlfriend's (Leslie Bibb) dismay. He comes upon a gang of young men harassing a young woman in the subway station late one night and photographs the interaction before convincing them to leave her alone. He thinks he understands now, but when the woman turns up as missing, he is shocked. He begins to haunt the late night trains, not sure what he is looking for. But then he finds it...

This film is based on a short story by Clive Barker. What is odd is that until I started to watch it, I had 

forgotten that I already watched it years ago, maybe when it came out in 2008. It's not a bad story and not a bad film, but it's also forgettable. Obviously, I forgot about it. I couldn't seem to care about any of the characters, and I found the photographer's obsession with the man on the train not just unsettling but stupid and not worth risking his life over, much less his girlfriend's life. And then the ending.... it was like I said to my kid after I watched it - it was all about the destination, not the journey. I think the ending was meant to shock, but it was more like, Really?

If you like Clive Barker, do yourself a favor and stick to Hellraiser (just the first two) or Nightbreed. Like I said, it's not a bad film, I just think it could have been done better. Maybe find the story and read it first before you decide to watch it. I'll give this film 2.5 Stars