Now Scream This: Forget The Avengers – Stream These Horror Movies Instead
(Welcome toNow Scream This, a column where horror experts Chris Evangelista and Matt Donato tell you what scary, spooky, and spine-tingling movies are streaming and where you can watch them.)Matt:The week on “Now Scream This” – Matt got super busy and couldn’t throw together a theme! Don’t blame Chris. We tried to come up with somethingAvengers: Endgamerelated, but hey, life comes at you real fast sometimes. To make up for the lack of shared context between picks, we’ve got a grab bag of freakish favorites you can stream at this very moment. Even better, I know Chris is going to raz me something fierce for at least two of my selections, which has become my favorite part since partnering for /Film’s most excellent (and only) horror streaming column.Chris:Sometime it’s nice to kick-back with a grab-bag of titles. Sure, a theme is fun, but you know what’s equally fun? Giving us a break and reading whatever the heck we’re offering you! Matt and I have returned from the moldy crypts of the streaming world and brought back ten terrifying titles to traumatize.
Now Streaming on HBO Go
Matt:Corin Hardy’s lesser-received “Conjurverse” entry boasts a stinkin' 26% Rotten Tomatoes score, but my review is one of the few positive logged forThe Nun. I respect how Hardy doesn’t deliver anotherJames Wancarbon copy à laAnnabelleorThe Curse Of La Lloronabecause neither of those films recreate Wan’s signature aesthetic.The Nuncould have been “just another,” but Hardy’s “Hammer Horror” vibes paint a more lively picture of monsters, mayhem, and maybe some zombification subplots?Demián BichirandTaissa Farmigabattle Valak’s “Waniverse” evil, whileJonas Bloquet’s Romanian guide “Frenchie” allows for B-Movie comedy to succeed in bursts. It may be a more generic horror flavor, yet is still tasty as a bite of investigative convent chills.Chris:I’m a fan of this entire series, butThe Nunleft me cold. It has a great premise, and some neat production design, but I wanted more. Oh well, there’s alwaysThe Nun 2.
Now Streaming on Shudder
Matt:After a fewSawandFeastfranchise entries,Patrick MeltonandMarcus Dunstanwhipped up an idea forThe Collector. A bitHome Alone, a bitSaw, a bitThe Strangers.Josh Stewartplays an ex-con trying to scrub some debt through a robbery scheme, but little does he know a second criminal has targeted the house. This “collector” of sorts as the title states, who imprisons the Chase family in their home and rigs traps in each room that Stewart must avoid. Sounds incrediblySaw-like, correct? That’s because Melton and Dunstan originally pitched the concept as aSawsequel, but the idea was rejected. No bother, sinceThe Collectoris a savage serial killer story that oozes tension and takes credit for spawning one of my favorite horror sequels in recent memory.Chris:This is a nasty movie, as its sequel. That’s a compliment.
Now Streaming on Netflix
Matt:Johnny Kevorkian’sAwait Further Instructionsis theCoherenceof Christmas horror. Having released less than a year ago, this sci-fi screamer about screen obsessions is one of the newer dysfunctional holiday treats available to viewers. Racists grandparents, survivalist siblings, lockdown quarantines dictated by flashing words on television screens – it’s everything we fear about family dinners around the holidays. No way out and no explanations, just tasks being issued by an unknown force. Act I seals the exits, Act II tears blood relatives apart, and Act III drops a trippified A-bomb of unexpected practical oddness that’s of no use to anyone spoiled. Kevorkian’s film has a lot to say about being enslaved by technology, and in my opinion, doesn’t get the love it deserves. Time to change that!Chris:It wouldn’t be Now Scream This without at least one Matt rec that I haven’t seen!
Matt:Grand PianoisSpeedin a concert hall whereElijah Woodplays a virtuoso pianist, scripted byDamien Chazelle, and starringJohn Cusackas the film’s antagonist. A+ tension is taut like finely tuned music wire. Any further words I type in this paragraph are obsolete given how you should already be logging into Shudder withGrand Pianoon your mind. As Wood tickles the ivories, his life depends on striking every single note with exact precision. “Play one wrong note and you die,” his sheet music reads in red marker. What in the name of Beethoven’s ghost are you still doing here?!Grand Pianodeserves a national holiday dedicated in its name given how impeccably the premise is executed and is one surprisingly fun-filled watch given the “trapped” premise.Chris:Oh hell yeah, I love this Brian De Palma homage.
Now Streaming on Amazon Prime
Matt:I caughtThe Unseenduring 2016’s Fantasia Film Festival, after whichGeoff Redknap’s “Invisible Man” riff evaded US distribution until only a few months ago (if even). Veteran makeup artist/SFX guru directs one father’s vanishing act as former NHL prospect Bob Langmore (Aden Young) hides away from society as his body becomes more exposed – or unseen – by the day. That’s until his daughter goes missing, and Bob straps on his ass-kicking boots. Expect more fatherly fist-pounding than pure terror, but visual effects make for some frighteningFrankensteinandHollow Manhomages. Damn fine invisibility glimpses reveal muscular tissue, pumping veins, and the inner-workings of Bob’s body as his form becomes more see-through by the day. Not like Redknap needs to peel away Bob’s exterior to feel the beating heartbeat powering this touching parental thriller.Chris:Thought I was going to get through this week’s entry with only one Matt pick I had yet to see. But no! I guess you could sayThe Unseenremains…unseen. Thanks everyone!
Chris:John Hough’sThe Legend of Hell House, based on a novel byRichard Matheson(who also wrote the script) has a very familiar set up: a group of strangers gather together in a huge haunted house to find proof of the paranormal. Sure enough, they find that proof, and instantly regret it. While this scenario has become a bit rote,Hell Housefinds ways to make it incredibly fun, and spooky. This has that ’70s British horror movie charm, where the everyone dresses very groovy, and the entire film looks as if it’s being shot through a thin sheet of gauze. It culminates in a big, loud, violent conclusion that still has power all the years after its release.Matt:Twitter was abuzz with hype the minuteHell Househit Shudder – while I was caught up in SXSW coverage. Still on my to-do list.
Chris:No remake can ever come close to approaching the grainy, nightmarish, realistic terror of the originalTexas Chain Saw Massacre. But the 2003Texas Chainsaw Massacreis surprisingly strong. The film can at the start of the remake craze of the early 2000s, and while the remakes that followed tended to be rather terrible,Texas Chainsawmanages to pummel its audience with enough nasty shocks to make an impression. The story is the same: a group of youths run afoul of a cannibalistic family in Texas. This new take has the added bonus ofR. Lee Ermeyon hand, chewing scenery as an evil sheriff. I know the very existence of this film is considered sacrilegious to some, but I’ve always liked it. However, the sequel, or rather prequel,Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, should be avoided at all costs.Matt:A solid remake that released when so many were outraged over Hollywood’s lack of creativity. Looking back on “remake culture,” we were too hard on some films.
Now Streaming on The Criterion Channel
Chris:David Lynch’sTwin Peaks: Fire Walk With Meis a nightmarish, unrelenting prequel to his mind-bendingTwin Peaksseries, and it gets better every time you watch it. The film was derided when it opened in 1992, but has been rightfully reappraised in the years since. The film goes back to show us what happened to Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) before she ended up dead, wrapped in plastic, in the first episode of the cult TV show. Lynch is telling a story about abuse and trauma, and filtering it through his own unique, jarring lens. Bonus:David Bowiemaking the cameo to end all cameos.Matt: “Bonus:David Bowiemaking the cameo to end all cameos.” Worth the price of admission.
Chris:First, let me be clear: the 2010 pre-Dark Universe remake ofThe Wolfmanis kind of a mess. But it’s an interesting mess! And that’s what matters. This film suffered from a troubled production, with Universal Studios clearly unsure about what the hell to do with this. Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) was originally hired to helm, but his vision proved to be too challenging and different for the studio’s tastes. So instead they hired workman directorJoe Johnston…which was probably a mistake. No offense to Johnston, who helmed the fantasticThe Rocketeer, but he’s just not exactly a master of horror. The behind-the-scenes turmoil shows in the film, which is uneven. But the stuff that worksreallyworks well.Benicio del Torois great as the cursed werewolf Lawrence Talbot,Emily Bluntdoes the most she can with her underwritten role, andAnthony Hopkinshams it up big time. The real draw here is the amazing make-up effects from the legendaryRick Baker, who creates killer werewolf create effects, some of which Universal stupidly altered with CGI. But I can’t help but appreciate this movie and all its gothic charm.Matt:One man’s “interesting mess” is another’s “there’s a reason this Dark Universe never took off.“The Wolfmanis a disaster of poor CGI and shoddy pacing, dynamite cast aside.
Chris:Scream 4ended up being the last movieWes Cravenwould direct, and I’ve always felt like it didn’t get enough praise. When the movie arrived in 2011, theScreamfranchise felt almost forgotten. As a result, the reaction to the movie was muted. But that’s a shame, becauseScream 4is a great return to form. In fact, I’ll just go ahead and say it’s the onlyScreamsequel I consider to be good (sorry,Scream 2fans). The movie is designed to be a kind of sequelandreboot. It’s a film where a new, young cast is front and center, but the older original cast keeps getting in the way. The movie is also shockingly violent – maybe one of the most violent movie Craven ever made. The kills here are exceptionally brutal, and often disturbing. One early murder, where a teen girl is brutally flung about her bedroom and eventually has her guts literally pulled out, is upsetting to the extreme. We all miss Wes Craven, but as far as swan songs go,Scream 4isn’t a bad movie to go out on.Matt:While I’ll apologize for my co-host to fans ofScream 2, he’s not wrong aboutScream 4. Would have loved to see more franchise entries follow this one’s jumping-off point.
