31:19 #5: Monsters- "Holly's House"

Two episodes in and I figured out the series gets its title for every episode telling a story that incorporates "monster" effects. Here the "monster" is an animatronic doll from a children's show that seemingly starts gaining a will of its own and becomes jealous of its performer. A major part of the tension is whether Holly has really come to life or her performer, Cathy, has succumbed to the pressure of juggling work on a highly successful show and her pregnancy. While mostly intended as horror, there are some dark comedy moments that sort of deconstruct the kids show format, as in when Holly starts behaving like a diva during shooting, insisting on another take where the camera focuses on her as much as possible.

31:19 #4 All Hallows Eve

I kind of liked Terrifyer as an over the top slasher film, and this anthology is sort of where antagonist "Art The Clown" made his debut. Unfortunately, aside from the final segment where he stars (rather than two earlier cameos) it's not terribly memorable. The segments have some cool visual ideas, but very thin plots that seem like excuses for the imagery. One thing I appreciated for trying something different was the appearance of the alien in the second short - it did make me laugh at first, but I don't think any other depictions of the "grey" aliens suggested that their face doesn't actually look like that, they're just wearing a protective mask over what's probably an even more unsettling visage. When Art does get the spotlight it's quite jolting and feels like the only part that the director really had his heart in. It's nothing new, but it turns out you can effectively strip a slasher movie down to practically nothing but climax.

31:19 #3: "The Dollmaker" (short film)

The Dollmaker  is a short film presented by the Alter youtube channel. I actually noticed vague parallels to the Feverman episode of Monsters, not because of a direct influence but because both deal with a real life fear relating to the death of a child, and a supernatural means to counteract it. In this case a man claims to make dolls of loved ones that come to life, but only inside the home. It's a pretty effective tale about grief and what happens when you fail to move on with your life.

31:19 #2: Monsters - "The Feverman"

I think I'll be watching more of this series, since I enjoyed this one. I don't want to give too much away but I like how it takes the fear of losing a child to illness and personifies it as a truly disgusting practical effects monster. A lot of the budget seems to have been spent on said monster, but the gets the most out of its minimal casting and two small sets.

31:19 #1: Joy Ride

Every October I try to partake in 31 horror entertainments- initially it was just movies, but as the amount of free time I had changed I started to include TV, literature and other stuff. It's probably going to be mostly movies though.

This movie is kind of right on the border between horror and thriller- the premise of teens being pursued by a psychotic truck driver after a prank gone wrong is horror-ish enough, but the way it's approached is more thriller-like: There's no gore or onscreen murders, and we barely get a glimpse at the antagonist, who is largely just a distinctively low voice on a CB radio. It's really all the creepier for keeping it to the viewer's imagination. One thing that struck me is that it has such a timeless, urban legend premise, but the way it's written, acted and scored is very early 2000's... Not that that doesn't have it's own charm.